Labor struggles | Strikes stop air traffic: “We are very sorry for the passengers”

Several Union strikes practically stop air traffic in Finland from 1st to 2nd. February. On Friday afternoon, the trade unions operating in air transport and airports reported on the political industrial action in the sector.

The unions oppose the labor market reforms planned by the government and the weakening of unemployment security.

“Up until now, the threshold for industrial action has been slightly higher in air transport. However, the policy pursued by the government is so tough that the threshold is now also crossed for air traffic. In AKT, the employees have been unanimous that they want to take a two-day measure”, the chairman Ismo Kokko said at a news conference.

At the press conference The public and welfare sector union JHL, the service sector trade union Pam, the aviation union IAU, the automotive and transport workers' union AKT and Finnish transport pilots SLL took part.

Members of JHL and Pam are responsible for many airport customer service tasks, while IAU is responsible for e.g. ground handling, passenger services and de-icing of airplanes. AKT members are cabin crew.

The unions estimated on Friday that around 7,000 wage earners are affected by air transport strikes.

The union bosses assured that, for example, hospital transports will also be secured during the strike.

“We also secure the departure capability of the defense forces, in practice the air forces, from part of the airports,” JHL's manager. chairman Håkan Ekström said.

Several various unions plan to organize political strikes in the first days of February. Strikes have also been announced by Teollisuusliitto, Rakennusliitto, Säkkoliitto and Trade Union Pro.

It is expected that notices of industrial action will be heard in, for example, social and health services and early childhood education in the coming days.

ACP's Ismo Kokko said he understands that strikes cause harm to people – in the case of air transport, passengers.

“We will probably have to carry out all kinds of reorganizations. But I'm looking for a little understanding here that air transport and airport workers are the same kind of workers as everyone else and these reductions are aimed at them as well,” he said.

Chairman of the airline pilots, Finnair pilot Vesa Uuspelto said that the pilots' concern is also deep.

“Perhaps we have not traditionally been seen participating in such demonstrations. We are very sorry for the employer and passengers. We have 75 years of experience in local agreements, and we are perhaps the operator with the most experience in this area. We are particularly concerned that with these government changes, we are turning local agreement into local coercion,” he said.

“Our assumption is that a large part of our members have voted for government parties. We are not against the government, but rather changes related to these few labor markets.”

In addition to local agreements, pilots are worried about the government's intentions to limit the activities of the national mediator.

Finnair according to the release, is currently assessing the extent of the effects of industrial action on the company's flights. However, according to Finnair's press release, it is already clear that the industrial action will significantly affect Finnair's operations and flights will have to be cancelled. Finnair has 1.-2. February approximately 60,000 customers whose travel plans may be affected by the strike.

“It is clear that the strike will cause flight cancellations, and we hope that as many customers as possible will find a suitable replacement flight in good time and thus avoid the uncertainty of their own travel plans caused by strike days,” says the director of Finnair's operational center Jari Paajanen in the bulletin.

“We also ask customers to be patient, as our customer service may be congested due to the situation,” Paajanen points out.

Finnair has not yet made any changes to its traffic on strike days, but already offers customers the opportunity to change their flight to another Finnair flight so that the flight does not fall on strike days. Customers who have a reservation between January 31 and February 3, 2024 can advance their trip or postpone it so that the travel date is March 15, 2024 at the latest.

If the customer's ticket conditions normally allow for changes, he can move the travel dates himself in the My Booking service on Finnair's website. If the customer's Ticket Type does not allow changes, a change to the travel date can be made by contacting the travel agency that booked the ticket or Finnair's customer service.

Finnair start flight cancellations at the point when the effects of the strike on Finnair's traffic have become more specific and then communicate the canceled flights directly to all customers whose flight is canceled and who have not themselves changed their reservation to other dates. If the customer has not changed his flight date and the flight has to be canceled, Finnair offers customers a new route to the destination.

“We are trying to route customers to flights either on the days before or after the strike. We notified customers directly about changes to their flights when flight cancellations are made,” says Paajanen in the announcement.

According to Finnair, it is also likely that there will be disruptions in the ground services of flights that may fly on the day of the strike, such as baggage loading and in-flight drinks and food service.