Scandinavia’s SAS ends five-day strike

A five-day strike that grounded more than 1,000 flights and affected 90,000 passengers ended today when SAS AB signed a wage accord with cabin crews for its Swedish subsidiary.

All traffic will resume starting Wednesday, Stockholm-based SAS said in a release.

The employees had walked off their jobs May 25 after a conflict between their union and the airline over issues such as meal breaks and rests betweens shifts. The new accord, effective through April 30, 2010, hands them a wage increase of 10.3% over 38 months, the airline said.

The labor dispute was the third under SAS Chief Executive Mats Jansson, who took over Jan. 1 and has vowed to break what he called a culture of striking at the airline. SAS Denmark has had 73 strikes in the last 10 years, and the parent company has faced about 100 labor disputes in the three Scandinavian countries in the last three years.