OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian Air Shuttle (OL:NWC) pilots will continue to strike on Saturday after overnight talks on a new collective labour agreement with a state mediator broke down, the airline said.
Norwegian, Europe's third-biggest budget carrier, said it would cancel all domestic flights in Norway and Sweden and most flights between Scandinavian capitals, leaving around 20,000 passengers stranded as the strike entered its eighth day.
"The parties said that they could not change their positions and intermediate solutions were not acceptable," the state mediator said. "The (mediator) concluded that further mediation was not likely to lead to an acceptable settlement."
The main point of contention is that the airline's 650 Scandinavian pilots want a collective agreement with the parent group instead of the current deal with its Norwegian Air Norway subsidiary.
The firm has rejected these demands and has instead offered to employ pilots through separate local subsidiaries in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The airline invited the Norwegian Pilot Union and labour group Parat for new talks on Saturday but it was not immediately clear when the sides would meet again.