Icelandair CEO says company cannot improve offer as engineers vote on strike

Icelandair has offered its aircraft engineers the best agreement it can, CEO Bogi Nils Bogason told mbl.is, as the workers vote on whether to launch an indefinite strike.

The aircraft engineers will vote today and over the weekend. The chairman of their union has described the action as a last resort, with the workers having been without a collective agreement since the start of the year.

If approved, the strike would begin in about 10 days and could bring Icelandair’s flight schedule to a halt soon after.

Bogason said the engineers’ demands went far beyond agreements reached elsewhere in the labour market.

“We have been negotiating and offered improvements to their terms. We have gone as far as we can and cannot go any further. We are offering improvements that are completely in line with what is happening in the general labour market here in Iceland,” he said.

He said the proposed strike would have serious consequences for Icelandair and the wider economy.

“If it happens, the damage to the company will be considerable, and we are dealing with challenging circumstances for many reasons. Our flight schedule would come to a halt quickly, but the damage would naturally extend far beyond our company,” Bogason said.

He said large and small tourism companies were expecting visitors in the coming days and that other industries would also be affected.

“There are many industries in Iceland that rely on air travel, so this would affect the entire economy,” he said.

Bogason said he had not spoken with the government since the vote was announced, despite the possible effects on business and society. “We have simply been looking at our response,” he said.