Strike to paralyse air traffic in Finland on February 1, 2

Flights operations will remain suspended across the country on February 1 and 2 as different trade unions called a 48-hour strike protesting against the labour market reforms and cuts in working condition undertaken by the four-party alliance government.

Members of the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors- JHL working for Finavia or Airpro will observe the strike from 12.01 am on February 1 to 11.59 pm on February 2 resulting suspension of the flights operation, said JHL in a press release on Friday.

JHL together with the service sector union -PAM, the Finnish Aviation Union- IAU, the Finnish Transport Workers' Union- AKT and the Finnish Airline Pilots' Association- SLL are observing the strike demanding stop of the government´s initiatives.

The strike will affect the operations of Finavia airports, aside from Halli and Utti airports, meaning that all of Finland’s large airports will be involved in the strike.

Emergency works, however, will be performed in order to protect people’s life, health or property.

JHL must resort to heavy industrial action because the government is still pushing for serious weakenings to the position of employees, said the press release.

“The strike is a political industrial action, and it is not targeted against employers. I understand that the strike causes difficulties and trouble to many passengers. However, we have no other choice than to take even tougher strike action. The Government’s dictation will drive the Finnish labour market to the wall. One should seek after extensive solutions to the situation by negotiating,” the union’s Interim President Håkan Ekström said.

The strike is a part of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK )’s serious grounds campaign.

The campaign opposes the Government’s unfair policy. The Government has already decided about several social security cuts. During the spring, the Finnish Parliament will start to consider a number of legislative proposals that will weaken the basic rights of employees, said the JHL.

During autumn and early winter 2023, JHL organised several political strike and the union is still ready to take further measures, if the Government is unwilling to negotiate.

“The Government is intending to diminish employee security, weaken the applicability of collective agreements and limit employees’ right to strike. The Government Programme’s goals have been copied almost word for word from the industry’s elections goals. We can’t simply stand by and watch as our members are being robbed off the means of defending proper terms and conditions of employment,” Ekström added.

Meanwhile, national flag carrier Finnair on Friday said that the strike will impact air transport from February 1 to 2.

Finnair is currently assessing the extent of the impact of the industrial action on Finnair flights, but it is already now clear that the political strike will have a significant impact on Finnair's operations, and will result in flight cancellations, said Finnair in a press release.

Finnair has approximately 60,000 passengers on 1-2 February whose travel plans may be affected by the strike.

Finnair has not yet made any changes to its traffic program for February 1 and 2 but offered clients the option to change their flight to another Finnair flight so that the flight does not fall on strike days.

Passengers who have a booking between 31 January and 3 February can choose to travel earlier or postpone their travel so that the travel date is no later than March 15, 2024.

If the ticket type allows changes, passengers can change travel dates on Finnair’s website but if the ticket type does not allow changes, the change to the travel date can be made by contacting the travel agency that booked the ticket or Finnair Customer Care.

"It is clear that the strike will cause flight cancellations, and we hope that as many customers as possible will find a suitable replacement flight well in advance and thus can avoid uncertainty in their travel plans," said Jari Paajanen, Vice President, Operations Control at Finnair.

Finnair will start cancelling flights once the effects of the strike on Finnair's traffic have become clearer and will then communicate cancellations directly to all passengers whose flights are cancelled and who have not changed their travel dates already.

If the passenger has not changed their flight date and the flight has to be cancelled, Finnair will offer a new route to the destination.

"We aim to re-route customers to flights either before or after the strike. We communicate directly to customers about changes to their flights as soon as flight cancellations are made," said Paajanen.

It is likely that there will be disruptions in ground services, baggage handling and food and beverage catering for flights during the strike days. The political strike is also likely to be visible in traffic on the days following the strike, as all Finnair flights are round trip flights, and the scheduled return of a cancelled flight may also take place on the following days.