• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

SAS denies breaking off talks with Danish union

Tue Oct 6, 2009 6:19am EDT

Stocks

   
Photo

* SAS denies having broken off the negotiations

* Danish union says SAS broke off wage talks on Mon

* Shares in SAS slip 1 pct

(Releads with SAS comment, adds background, share price)

COPENHAGEN, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Ailing Scandinavian carrier SAS (SAS.ST)(SAS.CO) said on Tuesday it was still in talks with a Danish cabin crew union after the union said the airline had broken off wage negotiations on Monday.

Loss-making SAS, half of which is owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark, is hoping to cut new deals with its trade unions that could help it compete with low-cost rivals.

"We haven't broken any negotiation, the door is open. We have had a dialogue as late as today with the union. We expect to return to the negotiation table," said SAS spokesman Sture Stolen.

"Talks are ongoing," he said, but declined to say if any further meetings were scheduled.

Union CAU earlier in the day said there were no plans for further talks after SAS broke them off. "This occurred even though the cabin personnel had provisionally put an offer on the table with total savings of 15 percent," it said in a statement.

Costs, not least for staff, have long been SAS's Achilles' heel in its struggle to compete with budget airlines, such as Norwegian Air Shuttle (NWC.OL) which has taken over several routes that SAS has abandoned.

The airline's "Core SAS" savings programme aims for annual savings of 4.5 billion Swedish crowns ($638 million).

Shares in SAS were down 1 percent at 1005 GMT.

($1=7.052 Swedish Crown)

(Reporting by John Acher in Copenhagen and Katarina Gustafsson in Stockholm; writing by Anna Ringstrom; editing by Simon Jessop)

((anna.ringstrom@reuters.com; +46 8 700 1134, Reuters Messaging: anna.ringstrom.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: SAS/NEGOTIATIONS

(C) Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nL6260463


More from Reuters

Photo

Personal spending and income rise in November

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending rose for a second straight month in November as incomes recorded their biggest gain in six months, data showed on Wednesday, boosting hopes of a self-sustaining economic recovery.

» More Top News
Malaysians participate in computer attack and defence hacking competition during The 3rd Annual Hack-In-The-Box Security Conference 2004 in Kuala Lumpur on October 6, 2004. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad
Commentary:

Year of the breach

Data security breaches are nasty business and should be avoided at all costs, writes Kevin Prince, a chief technology officer at Perimeter e-Security. Here's a look at the biggest breaches and blunders of 2009.  Commentary 

Technology
man walks past a stock quotation board displaying the Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo June 1, 2009. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
Reuters Breakingviews:

Running out of options

Bad news for safety-oriented investors: the AAA debt market is shrinking, and what's left will leave many with less diversification and lower returns than they're used to, writes columnist Agnes Crane.  Commentary 

Reuters Breakingviews