SAS-pilots stand up against unlawful training bonds in Blue1

[PropsAreForBoats]

Of the 300+ pilots sacked from SAS due to surplus about five years ago, three went to work for Blue1 (former Air Botnia) in Finland. Blue1 is a Finnish airline owned by the SAS Group. The ex-SAS pilots were made to sign a 3 year training bond, where the airline claims a training cost of €38.680 on a SAAB 2000. However, Malmø Aviation, the TRTO used by Blue1, has confirmed that the actual cost of the type rating is €17.500. According to Finnish law, it is illegal for Blue1 to demand higher than actual costs for the training.

After 2 years and 3 months working for the airline, these pilots left in November 2005 as Blue1 in May 2005 forbade foreign pilots to exchange crew tickets for home travel, which they had been promised when signing the contract. With a pay of €1.750 after taxes, it then became impossible to commute.

Now Blue1 has threatened these 3 pilots with legal action to collect the €10.500 remaining of the training bond. One of these pilots was employed by Widerøe, another airline within the SAS Group. He is now being charged €10.500 for changing jobs within the same airline consortium...

In the past month, Norwegian SAS-pilots have started a fund raiser to support these 3 pilots in any legal action against Blue1. The response has been formidable, a total of 80 pilots have contributed about €5.100 so far, with further contributions coming in all the time. Support has also been strong from NSF (Norwegian SAS-pilots Association), who is putting pressure on the SAS Group management and Blue1 to forfeit the claim.
Hopefully this will be a successful enterprise, thus marking a small victory in the battle against training bonds/self sponsoring. Stay tuned!

(If anyone wants to contribute to the fund raiser, PM me for further info)

[kelb]

Hello

there are few facts about bonding in nordic forum and how much you have to pay for Blue1 if you resign before you have done your time,that will help you with this issue.
on the other hand I do not understand that first you sign a bond and then if you have to pay what is left from the bond you start arguing????
why in the first place you ever signed one????:bored:

[b17heavy]

Kelb – if you found out that u may have got screwed over you would feel the same I’m sure ?

Perhaps it is the money grabbing, making everything a profit centre, tightwad attitude that some low cost operations seem to think they should be able to get away with ? Yes an airline is a business, yes it is there to make money – but there are limits. People work for companies not machines and should be treated accordingly.

The numbers in this case seem high and if true are outrageous and should have been asked about before signing. Although it does sound like skating on thin legal ice as far as the company is concerned. Stories of companies attempting to change contracts and basically shaft people seem to be becoming more widespread.

Personally think it is a disgrace and the company should stick it where it don’t shine.

[PropsAreForBoats]

Hey kelb

I am not one of the 3 in question, so I won't be able to give a direct answer to your questions. However, the point here, as I mentioned in my post, is that the training bond far exceeds the actual training costs for Blue1. And this is in conflict with Finnish law. The fact that the training bond contract is signed, does not make it legal. In addition there are issues here regarding training bonds for pilots transferring between airlines within the same airline consortium.

[PropsAreForBoats]

Breaking news: An agreement has been made with SAS and Blue1, after considerable efforts by SAS pilot unions and SAGPA (SAS Group Pilot Association). The 3 pilots in question will pay Blue1 a minor, symbolic amount to conclude their training bonds. Another issue with consecutive training bonds in Blue1 is still undergoing negotiations, but is expected to be solved as well.

Well done, and it shows that training bonds/self sponsoring CAN be fought if pilots are able to stand together.

[Crossunder]

Hear hear!!!
Congratulations :ok:

[fox niner]

With that amount you can buy exactly 3 beers in a Norwegian pub....

[Ove R. Tallig]

Hi RTO, the 5100 € collected from voluntary SAS pilots in Norway was earmarked to support in case of any legal action and will thus be returned to the contributors this week as the solution was reached through the unions before using any lawyers.

[kelb]

that is really good news.nobody likes the bonds including me,but now it is going to be interesting to see how those guys who resigned and paid the whole sum of remaining bond will react. go for it:ok: