Today flight attendants and memebers of Flugfreyjufélag Íslands (FFÍ) signed a new wage agreement with Icelandair.
The agreement was approved by a vast majority of voters with 83.5%.
921 voters were on the electoral roll and a total of 812 votes were cast. Eligible were all Icelandair employees who pay membership fees to the Flight Attendant Association.
In a statement FFÍ said that they “welcome the conclusion of the negotiations and thank the members for the solidarity and support that has prevailed among the group in recent months.”
Voting on the new wage contract began last Wednesday, July 22nd, after the new agreement had been drawn up the days before. Previously, Icelandair had opted to fire its flight attendants when they voted against a collective bargaining agreement struck by union officials and Icelandair last June.
Talks between FFÍ and Icelandair had been fraught since at least last May, in particular regarding wages and time off.
The now approved agreement will be valid until September 30th, 2025 and clauses on pilots and attendants regarding how long they can be on a flight for one shift have been combined. Flight attendants will have to fly five hours more per month for the same salary now.
According to a report by Vísir, the agreement was presented to FFÍ members at a meeting at the Hilton Nordica hotel last Monday, and many flight attendants interviewed by the news agency expressed dissatisfaction with it. Most, however, seemed to agree that the agreement had to be approved in order to keep the FFÍ alive.
Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.
You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
