Finnish air traffic controllers are expanding their industrial action over a contract dispute.
The Finnish Air Traffic Controllers Association (SLJY) said on Monday that its members will walk off the job every Tuesday and Saturday between 2am and 8am beginning on 29 January. Those will be in addition to a two-hour stoppage every Thursday afternoon, which began last week.
The SLJY says that there has been no progress in contract negotiations.
Their employer, ANS Finland, has said in the past that it will schedule supervisors to maintain air traffic control during walkouts. The SLJY says it believes this will also be the case during the planned additional tools-down periods.
Talks on a new contract for the controllers have dragged on for more than a year. The two sides last met at the national labour conciliator’s office on Friday. At that point the mediator’s office declared that the two sides were still "too far apart".