SAS has dismissed Mattias Åman Thiel, chairman of the SAS section of the Swedish Pilots' Association, with immediate effect. The union believes that the dismissal is against the law and announces that legal action will be taken. SAS does not wish to comment on the individual personnel matter.
Mattias Åman Thiel has worked at SAS for 28 years and is a captain and chairman of the SAS section within the Swedish Pilots' Association, SPF. On Friday, he received notice that his employment was terminated with immediate effect.
– I received the message from a lawyer, says Mattias Åman Thiel to Expressen.
According to the newspaper, SAS hired a lawyer from Mannheimer Swartling to make the announcement.
Dispute over union work
According to SPF, the background is a conflict over how Åman Thiel has carried out his union assignment. SAS has alleged that the union work has not been carried out on schedule.
The Pilots' Union rejects this picture and claims that Åman Thiel has followed the practice and routines that have been in place for a long time. The union considers the dismissal a violation of the right to association.
– This is a frontal attack against both the trade union movement and our elected representatives, says Tristan Okkonen, chairman of the Swedish Pilots' Association.
According to Okkonen, the pilot association has worked according to the same routines for around 30 years and SAS has not previously requested that the terms of union work be renegotiated.
SPF takes legal action
The Swedish Pilots' Association announces that the organization will immediately take legal action to try to have the dismissal declared invalid.
SPF will also request that Mattias Åman Thiel's employment continue while the dispute is being heard.
According to Expressen, the dismissal comes a few months after the Labor Court convicted SAS of violating the collective agreement. SPF also states that there are conflicts between SAS and the pilot union in Norway.
SAS: The same rules apply to everyone
SAS does not want to comment on the circumstances surrounding the dismissal but emphasizes that the same rules apply to all employees.
– We do not comment on individual employment matters and therefore cannot go into details in this case. At SAS, it is a fundamental principle that the same labor law rules, company policies, requirements and expectations apply to all our colleagues, says SAS's Head of Communications Alexandra Lindgren Kaoukji.
She adds that SAS stands behind the Scandinavian labor market model and cooperation with the trade unions.
At the same time, the mood among parts of the pilot corps is agitated. Anonymous pilots that Expressen spoke to are harshly criticizing the management, and one of them claims that the conflict could lead to disruptions in air traffic. However, no concrete industrial action or traffic disruptions have been announced in the published document.
Source: Expressen.se
