FACT.
The contract is the worst in the business.
One will not find anywhere a contract where the net result is worse, even the gross result is less than most third world country airlines offers.
Many contract-pilots feel they have been mislead by Norwegian making promises they do not keep.
Regarding the poor contract which got even poorer because the pilots there does not fly as much as were mentioned in their contracts and the pay very much depend on flying.
Accommodation is on the pilots own expense and it is not cheap in Helsinki.
Contract pilots hoped for employment direct with the airline and were in many cases more or less promised so, only later it turned out the contract-pilots must wait until their initial contract is ending before they Norwegian will consider them for direct employment, while the airline hires other pilots directly.
The pilots already hired by NAS are not really aware of their contract colleagues conditions or does not care.
The union and the NAS management has made an agreement and put it for vote, an agreement that in the future will allow the company to hire contract pilots with the consent of the union as long as the union members ( a fixed number of pilots 640 ) are guaranteed the jobs in all of the NAS group the next 10 years - included in this new agreement is a new payscale for the new hires and the ones still in the lower ranks.
Shareholders must be reassured the future expansion will be at a much lower cost than the current production cost.
The big smiley boss himself stated in the internal news that the new lowcost bases is a necessity for the scandinavian NAS pilots to keep their good conditions.
A lot seems to ride on the new agreement - it has high profile managers and top union members endorsing and recommending it and the deadline for the vote recently got extended in order to get the "correct" result.
The contract pilot FC fixed pay 34000 NOK per month + 290 per blockhour Gross, FO fixed pay 23000 per month + 160 NOK per month Gross all inclusive, no xtras. Social taxes paid by the pilots.
The pilots are all from the scandinavia or baltic area with a vast majority being sweedes. Most of the pilots are very well versed in B737.!
Wanna drive a bus - one gets to wear a uniform, there is no medical, the union is strong, your rights are respected and the responsibility is somewhat more fairly rewarded.
The airline business is apparently still dominated by a situation in which otherwise capable people is easily forced to work under conditions the general public would not even trust were true if they knew about it.
A dear friend of mine tells me the FO sleeps in the crew room and in kitchens of other people because they cant afford their own flat. Most pilots left their jobs for this one based on the future prospects suggested by Norwegian who were represented and screened all candidates.
However if you were a young norwegian and got hired just a few years ago you are now a very happy trooper with a recent upgrade and a handsome pay and the solid Norwegian state securing a wide range of benefits and social rights. Rights that the EU/EEC regulation stipulates agency workers should also enjoy -but quess what - they dont !
