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I just leave those here in case you wonder how Norwegian works. They have brand new planes for efficiency on one hand but on the other, they screw their staff s

I just leave those here in case you wonder how Norwegian works. They have brand new planes for efficiency on one hand but on the other, they screw their staff similar as to other budget airlines. https://www.quora.com/How-is-Norwegian-Air-so-cheap https://www.quora.com/How-is-Norwegian-Air-so-cheap https://skift.com/2016/10/10/norwegian-air-accused-by-critics-of-flouting-labor-standards-will-hire-u-s-pilots/ https://skift.com/2016/10/10/norwegian-air-accused-by-critic... "Norwegian’s modus operandi does raise interesting questions. Should a carrier established in one country be allowed to offer wages typical of another? And should airline employees be given the same labor protections regardless of where they are located?" https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/01/26/pot-kettle-black-the-u-s-and-norwegian-air/#243ecb04169e https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2017/01/26/pot-kettle-...

markvdb 9y ago
A considerable part of their office work is done from Riga, Latvia. Which is fine if you ask me.
digi_owl 9y ago
One asshole move in recent history back in Norway was that when the pilots were threatening to strike over long shifts or some such, the company spun up a subsidiary, moved all the pilot employments to it, and leased foreign pilots to fly domestic routes. All under the pretext that this was not circumventing the strike, because the pilots were not working for them but for the newly created subsidiary.
- eru 9y ago
  This just shows that strikes aren't really a good tool in a dynamic economy where you can just spin up companies as necessary, and would need (increasingly complex) legislation to keep them relevant. The right political response should be to strengthen workers bargaining position---run the economy hot enough to turn the labour market into a sellers market, and keep enough social safety net that even just saying No without another job lined up would be feasible.
  - alkonaut 9y ago
    And ensure that authorities are powerful enough to just make swift decisions about things like this. "Since this move accomplishes exactly the curcumvention of the strike, we consider the new company bound by the old company's agreements. Oblige by Monday or stop flying in Norway".
    - valuearb 9y ago
      Why can't the company just fire the strikers and directly hire replacements?
      - _acme 9y ago
        In the US, this is often possible (see the Air Traffic Controllers situation), but I think in many countries in Europe, it's not always legal.
        coredog64 9y ago
        ATC was a different kettle of fish. As federal employees they were prohibited from striking, and the strike allegedly caused a public safety issue. If you break the law to strike, you get no protection. (Police and school teachers have similar requirements in their contracts and will use "sick-outs" to apply pressure without a full strike)
      - alkonaut 9y ago
        Where I live, and I assume in a lot of northern Europe, being on strike is not a valid reason to fire someone - if it's in the correct part of the contract cycle (the contract is 1,2 or 3 years and workers promise not to strike in return for the conditions in the contract). Strikes typically occur when the contract is up and a new one is being written. Second - a company that would cross the unions by hiring new workers would be blockaded. First by the union itself, but very soon by other unions. For example a restaurant that doesn't pay the correct wages might not be able to get deliveries of certain products, garbage won't be picked up etc. Outside the entrance customers are handed flyers that the restaurant is mistreating staff. All of this is regardless of whether the restaurant staff wants to be union members and regardless of whether they are happy with their contracts. And this is working very well actually - there is for example no need for minimum wages set by law. Strikes are rare, and "illegal/wild" strikes outside of contract periods are almost unheard of. Perhaps surprisingly, businesses are quite happy with this setup. Weaker unions would likely mean more unnecessary strikes, and definitely more regulation of things that are now covered by agreements.
davidf18 9y ago
From the Quora article: "It's a relatively new airline, so it doesn't have a long history of union agreements that must be fulfilled. " All of the US domestic carriers went bankrupt and renegotiated their union agreements, so this doesn't hold.
- valuearb 9y ago
  They still have seniority rules.
davidf18 9y ago
"Should a carrier established in one country be allowed to offer wages typical of another?" The chief concern is safety. America's airline industry especially with the consolidations of United buying Continental and American buying US Airways is dysfunctional. We have no equivalent of Ryan Air or EasyJet in the US and we should. US domestic carriers should strive to compete with Norwegian offering their prices and stop complaining.
- zimzam 9y ago
  We do have low-cost carriers like Spirit & Frontier airlines. I know somebody who was in a long-distance Washington DC - Florida relationship and was able to get $20-$40 round-trip flights for weekend trips pretty regularly.
  - davidf18 9y ago
    Well from NYC, both of the airlines fly out of LGA and Spirit also out of Newark, but I've never, never seen fares anything that are better than the other carriers that I get through Kayak or other sites. Never. NYC SFO July 11 to 20 RT is about $330 to $350 on Spirit, Frontier, and Kayak (with better carriers). They are not comparable to EasyJet and Ryan Air which does offer substantially lower fares.

markvdb 9y ago

A considerable part of their office work is done from Riga, Latvia. Which is fine if you ask me.

digi_owl 9y ago

One asshole move in recent history back in Norway was that when the pilots were threatening to strike over long shifts or some such, the company spun up a subsidiary, moved all the pilot employments to it, and leased foreign pilots to fly domestic routes. All under the pretext that this was not circumventing the strike, because the pilots were not working for them but for the newly created subsidiary.

eru 9y ago
This just shows that strikes aren't really a good tool in a dynamic economy where you can just spin up companies as necessary, and would need (increasingly complex) legislation to keep them relevant. The right political response should be to strengthen workers bargaining position---run the economy hot enough to turn the labour market into a sellers market, and keep enough social safety net that even just saying No without another job lined up would be feasible.
- alkonaut 9y ago
  And ensure that authorities are powerful enough to just make swift decisions about things like this. "Since this move accomplishes exactly the curcumvention of the strike, we consider the new company bound by the old company's agreements. Oblige by Monday or stop flying in Norway".
  - valuearb 9y ago
    Why can't the company just fire the strikers and directly hire replacements?
    - _acme 9y ago
      In the US, this is often possible (see the Air Traffic Controllers situation), but I think in many countries in Europe, it's not always legal.
      - coredog64 9y ago
        ATC was a different kettle of fish. As federal employees they were prohibited from striking, and the strike allegedly caused a public safety issue. If you break the law to strike, you get no protection. (Police and school teachers have similar requirements in their contracts and will use "sick-outs" to apply pressure without a full strike)
    - alkonaut 9y ago
      Where I live, and I assume in a lot of northern Europe, being on strike is not a valid reason to fire someone - if it's in the correct part of the contract cycle (the contract is 1,2 or 3 years and workers promise not to strike in return for the conditions in the contract). Strikes typically occur when the contract is up and a new one is being written. Second - a company that would cross the unions by hiring new workers would be blockaded. First by the union itself, but very soon by other unions. For example a restaurant that doesn't pay the correct wages might not be able to get deliveries of certain products, garbage won't be picked up etc. Outside the entrance customers are handed flyers that the restaurant is mistreating staff. All of this is regardless of whether the restaurant staff wants to be union members and regardless of whether they are happy with their contracts. And this is working very well actually - there is for example no need for minimum wages set by law. Strikes are rare, and "illegal/wild" strikes outside of contract periods are almost unheard of. Perhaps surprisingly, businesses are quite happy with this setup. Weaker unions would likely mean more unnecessary strikes, and definitely more regulation of things that are now covered by agreements.

davidf18 9y ago

From the Quora article: "It's a relatively new airline, so it doesn't have a long history of union agreements that must be fulfilled. " All of the US domestic carriers went bankrupt and renegotiated their union agreements, so this doesn't hold.

valuearb 9y ago
They still have seniority rules.

davidf18 9y ago

"Should a carrier established in one country be allowed to offer wages typical of another?" The chief concern is safety. America's airline industry especially with the consolidations of United buying Continental and American buying US Airways is dysfunctional. We have no equivalent of Ryan Air or EasyJet in the US and we should. US domestic carriers should strive to compete with Norwegian offering their prices and stop complaining.

zimzam 9y ago
We do have low-cost carriers like Spirit & Frontier airlines. I know somebody who was in a long-distance Washington DC - Florida relationship and was able to get $20-$40 round-trip flights for weekend trips pretty regularly.
- davidf18 9y ago
  Well from NYC, both of the airlines fly out of LGA and Spirit also out of Newark, but I've never, never seen fares anything that are better than the other carriers that I get through Kayak or other sites. Never. NYC SFO July 11 to 20 RT is about $330 to $350 on Spirit, Frontier, and Kayak (with better carriers). They are not comparable to EasyJet and Ryan Air which does offer substantially lower fares.