Agreement Brings End to Airport Strikes in Finland

The Helsinki Times reported that the Finnish Aviation Union (IAU) and Service Sector Employers (Palta) have reached an agreement regarding an on-going airport ground staff employment dispute, that has led to strike action being taken at airports throughout Finland.

Additional work stoppages have been called off.

According to the report from the Times, strike action during the last two weeks has caused hundreds of flight cancellations.

The media outlet said the dispute was related to the terms and conditions of employment adopted by Airpro, a Finavia subsidiary providing services at airports, at the beginning of February. IAU was demanding that the generally applicable collective agreement for air traffic services be applied also to the ground handling staff at airports, while Palta insisted on continuing to apply the company-specific agreement terminated by IAU.