Finnair strike strands thousands of passengers

[Absolut]

Finnair strike strands thousands of passengers

HELSINKI, November 16, 2009 (AFP) - Helsinki's main airport was almost deserted on Monday as a Finnair pilots' strike stranded thousands of passengers and forced them to reschedule their flights.Related news:
• Finnair pilots' strike to ground flights


The Finnish airline pilots association SLL went on strike Monday at 0:01 am (2201 GMT on Sunday) after wage negotiations at the weekend broke down.

Most Finnair flights were grounded as a result, leaving the Helsinki-Vantaa airport almost empty as passengers turned to the phone to reschedule their bookings.

An AFP journalist at the scene said the airport was almost empty at midday, but there was a long line at the booking desk of Finnair rival Blue 1 as passengers tried to change their reservations.

Finnair partner Finncomm Airlines said it had added more flights and routes to serve as many passengers as possible, while British Airways was flying to Helsinki with bigger aircraft.

Finnair was helping its customers change their flights, but the wait on the phone was at times long.

"Our phone services are busy and we are looking into getting more people to answer the phones," Finnair's spokeswoman Maria Mroue told AFP.

The company, which has cancelled all of its flights for Tuesday as well, estimated that the strike would impact around 20,000 passengers a day as some 200 daily flights are expected to be cancelled.

It forecast the walkout would cost between 2.5 million and 5.0 million euros (between 3.7 million and 7.5 million dollars) a day.

Finnair's pilots on Saturday turned down a wage plan proposal because it did not provide a solution to Finnair's plans to outsource pilots.

The union said it hoped to reach an agreement with Finnair soon, but national conciliator Esa Lonka told Finnish news agency STT that no decision about a new meeting between the parties has been made.

"I hope that we could reach an agreement in a couple of days," SLL union chief Kristian Rintala told national broadcaster YLE.

Like most of the airline industry, Finnair has been struggling with lower passenger numbers and fares amid the global financial turmoil.

Last month Finnair reported a net loss of 20.7 million euros in the third quarter. It wants to cut annual costs by 200 million euros.

SwedishWire (http://swedishwire.com/nordic/1714-finnair-strike-strands-thousands-of-passengers)

Since I couldnt find any threads on it, I figured Id post one.

[Absolut]

Why?

Because its workers struggling and some people might find it interesting to know what the workers in different countries are up to.

[ls]

There's always something more interesting, than pilot's strike.

Are you one of those so-called 'workerists' who only identify with the sociological 'mining and metalworking working-class'? Yeah purge the pilots come the revolution, what bourgeois idiots. :rolleyes:

[Absolut]

There's always something more interesting, than pilot's strike.

Why would workers fighting for the rights by uninteresting and not worth posting about? I completely fail to see any point, whatsoever, in your post, except if you were trying to belittle a certain part of the working class, because they, as ls said, does not fit in to your perfect ideal of the working class.

[Patchd]

I think he doesn't take much interest in this because commercial pilots generally have decent salaries, of around $50k-$100k (depending on airline) average. However, this doesn't change their class nature, if they still have to sell their labour power to an employer and owner of private property, then they too are a worker, even if they are materially better off than most other workers.

[Patchd]

Sorry, you hadn't, only you said this:

"There's always something more interesting, than pilot's strike."

... seemed like you were implying that a pilot's strike didn't belong here for one reason or another, whereas I think we were saying that Absolut, and any other member of this board has the right to post whatever they want about workers' struggles on here. In fact, as this forum is not too much used, it would be best to encourage more people to post more.

[NecroCommie]

Just so people would know, when finnair pilots dare to strike because over 11400€ is not enough, I'd wonder what their true motives are. Are they truly having financial problems, or do they just compare their salary to that of other pilots.

[ls]

Just so people would know, when finnair pilots dare to strike because over 11400€ is not enough, I'd wonder what their true motives are. Are they truly having financial problems, or do they just compare their salary to that of other pilots.

I find your post quite annoying in all honesty, not least because of its condescending tone but also because you didn't even bother reading the story, yeah leftists are posting because pilots don't get a high enough salary, they just deserve to be unemployed. :rolleyes:


Finnair's pilots on Saturday turned down a wage plan proposal because it did not provide a solution to Finnair's plans to outsource pilots.

Try reading before posting.

[Absolut]

Try reading before posting.

There is also an issue concerning Finnairs outsourcing of flights to other companies, and the company is hiring other pilots and renting other planes than the ones they have, rendering the Finnair pilots superflous, so to speak.

[NecroCommie]

I find your post quite annoying in all honesty, not least because of its condescending tone but also because you didn't even bother reading the story, yeah leftists are posting because pilots don't get a high enough salary, they just deserve to be unemployed. :rolleyes:

Try reading before posting.
Well, to be honest I did not read it. But you must also understand that it is because finnair pilots have bit of a reputation of always complaining, even when their jobs are one of the most luxorious ones in this country. And when it is time for support strikes, for example the recent nurse strike, you can hear the pilots going: "hmph! Lower classes..." Finnish airline pilots complaining about their jobs is the finnish equivalent of London cityboys always complaining about their "small" bonuses.

[ls]

Well, to be honest I did not read it. But you must also understand that it is because finnair pilots have bit of a reputation of always complaining, even when their jobs are one of the most luxorious ones in this country. And when it is time for support strikes, for example the recent nurse strike, you can hear the pilots going: "hmph! Lower classes..." Finnish airline pilots complaining about their jobs is the finnish equivalent of London cityboys always complaining about their "small" bonuses.

So you don't think there are airline pilots here as well? :blink:

London cityboys (who usually work directly within the markets even if in a small way) are NOT the same in any way as pilots, how on earth can you make such a ridiculous comparison?

Fair enough, they probably do get paid a bit much and yeah they might complain a lot, but we should defend them when their jobs are likely to go.. imo......

[NecroCommie]

So you don't think there are airline pilots here as well? :blink:Ofcourse nothing like that! It's just I have no idea of the general level of organization amongst foreign airliner pilots, and I do not know what is the level of their pay and security. Therefor I tried to avoid making false claims by concentrating on what I know = finnish airlines.


London cityboys (who usually work directly within the markets even if in a small way) are NOT the same in any way as pilots, how on earth can you make such a ridiculous comparison?...
Cityboys are still theoretically wage slaves, and they too are certainly not amongst the poorest. They and pilots are the same in the sense that both complain about their conditions, even when both are perfectly aware of how priviledged they are.

[ls]

Cityboys are still theoretically wage slaves, and they too are certainly not amongst the poorest. They and pilots are the same in the sense that both complain about their conditions, even when both are perfectly aware of how priviledged they are.

This is clearly ridiculous, there is a massive difference between someone who works directly propagating Capitalism.. and someone who flies people around.

I'm sure there are poorer pilots in Finnair too, there are poorer pilots who do smaller trips for the bigger firms here in the UK, they would be having their jobs threatened over there too and are most probably out on strike.......

[NecroCommie]

This is clearly ridiculous, there is a massive difference between someone who works directly propagating Capitalism.. and someone who flies people around.
I have never claimed their jobs are similar. I merely try to give an example close to you, through which you would understand why I find this strike ludicrous.


I'm sure there are poorer pilots in Finnair too, there are poorer pilots who do smaller trips for the bigger firms here in the UK, they would be having their jobs threatened over there too and are most probably out on strike.......
I have no doubt that this kind of population exists, but as far as I understand they are a minority in Finnair and anomalies are always anomalies. But I do not claim expertise on this subject, if you can show me otherwise I would propably believe you.