“It doesn’t look so bad” ………….
Beginning in late 2012 Norwegian began its journey of broken promises to contract pilots. The first, was to unilaterally abolish the promised on/off rotation. Many later expressed regret at leaving the rock solid 5/4 at Ryanair, and some returned. The second, was the promise of direct (CORE) employment.
In this instance, CORE refers to the directly employed Scandinavian pilots. Their privileges are the government employment laws, labor rights and labor principles workers are guaranteed directly with their employer - the entity controlling your working life. These virtues are not “banal” or merely “interests” to be granted at the whim of management. Unfortunately, they can be circumvented by unprincipled organizations.
There are no laws applicable to airline expansion preventing additional crew being directly employed by the airline. Agency sourced crew, or direct employment circumvention, allows Norwegian to gain a huge competitive advantage over their rivals, but at the severe cost to the workers of the aforementioned employment laws, labor rights and labor principles with their effective employer – Norwegian (such a scheme does not comply with the EU US Open Skies Agreement, therefore a US permit cannot be issued).
Union bullying was mentioned on another thread. There is no bullying by the union at Norwegian. On the contrary, it is the upper echelons within the Fornebue rats nest who seek to masterfully hammer home their anti-union and selected crew bullying tactics. This, while hypocritically soliciting a just culture open-door policy, peppered with disingenuous comments of “good union relations” from a paid mouthpiece (DN News Aug 7, 2015), and, after dismantling an airline into three divisions during a lawful union strike!
However, bullying is not exclusive to Norwegian and they appear to have found a willing and proficient partner in OSM.
Intimidation of the workforce:
DN News, Mar 4, 2015
“Pilots are threatened with losing their jobs if they refuse to transition to OSM”
DN News, Dec 13, 2012
"Within Norwegian threats of reprisals against crew being used in daily operations"
Nettavisen News, July 10, 2013
"English [Norwegian] intimidates officers and employees from expressing themselves"
DN News, Nov 14, 2013
"None of them [agency crew] want to come forward for fear of their future with Norwegian"
E24 News, Jan 26, 2015
"Threatened pilots to sign a new contract using aggressive tactics and threats to revoke contracts if pilots did not sign"
Intimidation of selected crew:
Dagbladet News, March 3, 2015
"Feeling exposed to a witch hunt from Kjos" - “Dream job was a nightmare” [sacked cabin crew]
DN News, Dec 4, 2015
"It emerged very strong testimony in court which in my opinion very damaging to confidence in the management of the company and created the basis for settlement. A continuation of what we heard on Tuesday would have been so devastating for Norwegian short and long term that the company had no choice but to arrive at settlement" [the out of court settlement of a sacked Safety Officer]
There are many other reports in the Scandinavian media of Norwegian’s misguided idea of “labor relations”. No doubt, Scandinavians in particular find the abhorrent treatment of workers by Norwegian to be grossly offensive to the region’s reputation for quality of working life. It is no wonder that “Half of Norwegian’s pilots want to quit” and “75% of pilots surveyed would not recommend Norwegian as an employer” - DN News, Sep 26, 2015.
Norwegian has turned hypocrisy into an art form and has the affront to declare on its website:
“We place great importance on ensuring compliance with employees’ basic human rights as outlined in the International Labor Organization’s core conventions”
The Norwegian regime has previously summarily dismissed agency pilots and cabin crew without cause or permitting individuals to respond to any allegations made against them - a blatant violation of ILO core conventions and further testament to Norwegian’s insincerity toward meaningful labor relations. As an agency pilot, you have no employment law, labor rights nor labor principles directly with Norwegian - the entity controlling your working life.
In consideration of all above, you may understand why CEO Bjorn Kjos smiles with apparent blissful satisfaction when photographed standing closely behind Norwegian crew.