SAS airline is falling back amid high turnover in Monday trading. The company's CEO Anko van der Werff has been interviewed by the Danish newspaper Finans where he says that "the company is fighting to survive" and that the unions must invite them to dance.
”"SAS is struggling to survive. When I look at our markets now and how our customers are changing, the size of our debt, it is absolutely clear that we have to do things significantly differently," says Anko van der Werff, who has now been CEO for three months in a interview with Finance.
The airline CEO points out that SAS has a ”cocktail of problems” that threaten the company’s existence, including that the business community will travel less in the future and that they have ”more expensive contracts than most competitors.” The company has therefore called the major unions to negotiations that will ensure greater flexibility, efficiency improvements and lower overhead costs.
”"It requires understanding and willingness from everyone and the negotiations have one goal: SAS should be competitive so that we can survive, grow and thereby create jobs. I want to do this together with the unions, but it takes two to tango," says Anko van der Werff.
In recent weeks, Di has reported great anger over how SAS has handled the issue of re-employment rights for 560 of the company's pilots who were laid off during the pandemic. The criticism is that SAS is reportedly trying to circumvent the re-employment rights by creating two separate companies with their own aircraft and hiring new staff there, without any special preference for previously laid off pilots.
The Danish Pilots' Association says they are willing to enter into dialogue with SAS and find solutions, but at the same time gives the airline the boot for signing a collective agreement with the Danish Flyvebranchens Personale Union, FPU. Martin Lindgren, SAS representative in the Swedish Pilots' Association, recently directed the same criticism at the Scandinavian airline group.
”"You find a union that is willing to sign an agreement without having a single member in the workplace and then they say they are following the Scandinavian model. It is completely absurd," says Martin Lindgren, SAS representative in the Swedish Pilots' Association.
SAS falls 9.5 percent to SEK 1.64 in Monday trading.
Source: di.se
