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Norwegian French-based staff still not “fired”, no indemnities for two months

By

 Bart Noëth

 -

6 May 2021

While Norwegian is still operating a short haul network across the Nordics and to key European destinations – yet at a very low level – 286 French employees of a Irish based subsidiary Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS) whose Parisian branch closed in January are left stranded by its employer. 

According to a union member, Norwegian received 8 million euros in aid from the French state for partial unemployment of its 145 pilots, 136 cabin crew and five administrative employees, based in Paris.

Boeing 787 captain Koen Schallier called out on social media about the situation: “Today (1 May) it’s been two months without a salary for the crews from #norwegian in Paris CDG. 0€ indemnities have been received and the crews have not been dismissed yet, so are not eligible for unemployment benefits. Crews are in distress, yet no reply was given to the distress call by the management. 0€ Income for two months, entering the third month…
While the only thing that needs to be done is to follow the procedures correctly… It’s not that hard… Every day people loose money, every day more and more people end up in more financial trouble… Just because the correct procedures have not been followed…”

Without income for 65 days, they are therefore waiting. Some “can no longer pay their bills, they find themselves having to leave their apartment“, details Damien Quéland, also elected Unac and secretary of the CSE.

Union members say they have alerted the liquidators and management but “we had no emergency meeting to deal with these psycho-social risks,” Damien Quéland is surprised. Employees have also had no news from their human resources director since February.

Yesterday (5 May), a hearing was scheduled before the commercial court of Bobigny to examine the advisability of appointing a liquidator in France, “therefore the emergence of a French representative in the context of the bankruptcy proceedings which affects Norwegian“, explains Me Fiodor Rilov, lawyer for French employees.