Icelandair Hotels Reverses Position, Pays Employees For Strike Days

After extensive coverage of the matter yesterday, Icelandair Hotels have announced that they will be paying employees for last month’s strike days.

As reported, union officials for Efling and VR were surprised to learn that Icelandair Hotels was deducting from the salaries of those union workers who were on leave from their shifts during the days that the now-ended strikes were occurring. In some cases workers were paid from 12,000 ISK to 25,000 ISK less than they expected.

Þórey Magnea Hjálmarsdóttir, the managing director of Icelandair Hotels, told reporters that her understanding was that union workers could be paid their equivalent wage during the days the strikes took place. After a full news cycle about the matter across Icelandic media, MBL now reports that these employees will be paid for two strike days; March 8 and March 22.

In a statement to the press, she says the decision was made when it came to light that Efling and VR were not going to pay for these days. She contends further that Efling did not attempt to contact the company directly about the pay.

A collective bargaining agreement was signed last week between management and several labour unions, amongst them Efling and VR. With the resolution of this matter, however, the dispute may still not be over, as much of the agreement depends on both the government and the Central Bank changing several of their policies.