Icelandair aircraft technicians vote on work stoppage

Icelandair’s aircraft technicians are voting today and over the weekend on whether to stage a work stoppage, mbl.is reports. Óskar Einarsson, chairman of the Icelandic Aircraft Technicians’ Association, described the vote as an emergency measure. The technicians have been without a collective agreement since the beginning of the year.

Negotiations between the association, the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise and Icelandair have not produced an agreement. Einarsson said talks had been ongoing since November last year.

The vote began around noon on Friday. Einarsson did not disclose the possible scale or duration of the work stoppage before the vote began. The association has sent out the voting notice, and voting will continue beyond the weekend.

Asked whether negotiations had stalled partly because Icelandair is expanding its operations abroad and employees fear jobs could be moved out of Iceland, Einarsson said unions could not control whether the airline established an overseas aviation company. He said moving jobs abroad would damage the association, but that issue was not part of the negotiations.