In a contract dispute gone white-hot, Icelandair announced late last week that it had fired all its cabin crew, cut off all ties with their union, and expected its spare pilots that for now they will be handling flight attendant duties.
But in the end, the threat of a strike by the fired flight attendants and uncertainty over with pilots would agree to take on those duties, the airline backed off, and a new agreement was reached, with ratification to take place by next Monday.
The dispute was over agreements to modify operations during the coronavirus pandemic. Agreements had been ratified with unions representing pilots and engineers, but an agreement with the flight attendants was turned down by a 73-27 vote. Pilots were notified to start expecting cabin assignments starting Monday, July 20.
Neither side has indicated what changes were made in the original deal.
