Unfortunately, there is no reference to a Master Seniority List, upgrade selection or base bidding rights in the employment contract between the pilot(s) and their staffing agency employer, OSM. In any dispute, pilots have no recourse via an Employment Tribunal (UK), or other options against those making the decisions, i.e. Norwegian airline managers. Previously, pilots who agreed a base after being hired and later refused a base change during ground school, faced a “take it or leave it” ultimatum.
Norwegian’s LGW based pilots pay union dues to BALPA for representation to staffing agency, OSM, with whom they have a Collective Labor Agreement. However, the option for trade union representation and a CLA directly with the Norwegian AIRLINE exists, as follows:
OSM CEO, Espen Hoiby, recently stated the company "adherence to the International Labor Organization core conventions on freedom of association, organizing and collective bargaining” – link:
http://www.icenews.is/2017/01/16/ceo...#axzz4XSxrmcRH
Norwegian’s CEO, Bjorn Kjos, also declares his compliance with ILO conventions (allegedly) – link:
http://www.norwegian.com/uk/about/co...y/human-worth/
The ILO guide to Employment Relationships in Europe details the legal criteria to determine the Norwegian airline to be the employer of the pilots. The UK is a signatory to ILO conventions. A previous UK court ruling found;
“For instance, in Dacas v. Brook St Bureau (2004) ICR 1437, the court found that “as a general (but not invariable) rule for employment law purposes a temp supplied by an employment agency to an end-user client [a Norwegian airline] will be an employee of the client and will be neither self employed nor an employee of the agency itself” - link:
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/pub...cms_209280.pdf
BALPA recently fought and won a case against Jet2 described as “an important case on trade union rights”. BALPA General Secretary said; “this case proves that where it is necessary BALPA will robustly defend our right and duty to stand up for pilots and their interests” – link:
http://aviationtribune.com/airlines/...rk-legal-case/
Given the ILO conventions, pledges of ILO compliance by Espen Hoiby and Bjorn Kjos, and BALPA’s declaration to “stand up for pilots and their interests”, why do Norwegian’s pilots, the “united” Norwegian Pilot Group, not demand their BALPA (and SEPLA) union dues are used to represent them directly to the Norwegian AIRLINE rather than staffing agency, OSM?