Check in.dk and google translate:
This was not the case when the airline chose to lay off its organized pilots and instead hire a number of "self-employed pilots" to take over the work of the contract pilots.
It was illegal when the Icelandic cargo airline Bluebird Nordic shortly before Christmas last year chose to lay off 11 contract pilots, at the same time as the company had hired a number of "independent pilots".
It says a judgment that has just been handed down in the Labor Court in Iceland, in a case between the Icelandic Business Pilots Association (FÍA) and the Association of Icelandic Employers on behalf of Bluebird Nordic.
In the middle of the wage negotiations at the end of last year, all Bluebird Nordic's organized pilots were fired. Subsequently, the airline announced that in future it would only employ "self-employed pilots".
Fired and employees
"The fact of the matter is that a fast-growing Icelandic airline fired all its pilots, who were union members, only weeks after hiring a similar number of fake self-employed contractors," said Jón Þór Þorvaldsson, chairman of the FÍA, in a comment to dommen.
"This was done despite the fact that the collective agreement between the parties contained a provision on the preferential rights of FÍA members to work for Bluebird, which the court confirmed was still valid, as the Court of Appeal has previously ruled," he continues.
The pilots call the victory important. Not just for themselves, but for all unions in Iceland.
"It is important for trade unions, supervisory authorities and the government, which all fight against false independent companies," says Jón Þór Þorvaldsson.
A cheaper solution
According to the pilots, the ruling from the Icelandic labor law will set a precedent that it is not allowed to dismiss employees who work under a collective agreement and instead employ the so-called false self-employed at a significantly lower salary.
Some companies hire fake self-employed people instead of hiring them as employees. In this way, companies do not have to pay wages during illness, holiday pay and pension, for example.
The Icelandic case draws threads to Denmark. In the spring, the Aviation Industry Personnel Union (FPU) suspected Bluebird of using the method with the “fake” self-employed at the base in Denmark. The union sent a conflict warning, after which Bluebird chose to close its base in Copenhagen.
Owned by Cypriot company
Since January 2020, Bluebird Nordic has been owned by Avia Solutions Group, headquartered in Cyprus. The company operates on the basis of a commercial operating license issued by the civil aviation authorities of Iceland.