The birdcage tried on

Once again, an Icelandic trade union is engaged in a wage dispute. Most visible have been female professions that have struggled to get renewed collective agreements this year and last year. Efling recently concluded a collective agreement with municipalities after a long struggle. The journey has been to be without a contract, then to have to walk the plank in dialogue with society, and then the struggle against unreasonable employers. Nurses are still working on their struggle, and now it's the turn of flight attendants. Yet another female profession that performs difficult but undervalued work. And as listed, the profession must undertake the same ordeal as those previously mentioned.The working conditions of flight attendants are not on par with other professions within aviation, nor can they be compared to many professions outside the aviation sector.Conditions are set that are on the verge of being acceptable, such as age limits, appearance, demeanor, and clothing.It is clear from the reactions of the men who manage Icelandair that they consider the company's downfall and humiliation to be the responsibility of the staff, especially flight attendants who have always been self-sacrificing frontline workers. But now they have become arrogant bullies with aggression and swagger. -It is actually good that their view comes to light because it gives the profession an opportunity to show the arrogant CEO that he and the boys are merely reflecting themselves.The profession is showered with mansplaining, and they are spoken to in a condescending manner as if they are fools who don't know how the world works.The company's management went so far in belittling their staff that they brazenly disregarded the rules of procedure that apply in wage negotiations, which led ASÍ to feel compelled to write a letter stating the following: „We trust that both the State Mediator and the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise will urge their people to respect the rules,“.While managers and others put forward a cliché-ridden proposal that the lowest-paid people should bear the brunt, solution-oriented proposals have emerged to assist the country's only airline. One is that a subsidiary would be established, while another could be that the state takes over the company entirely. The airline would thus become state-owned, which is not uncommon in our neighboring countries.The airline's leadership would be better off working on societal solutions rather than suffocating in their own arrogance.We demand that the Icelandair negotiating committee face the fact that the company is nothing without these employees. These people have had the company's interests at heart and been proud of their workplace. With the negotiation proposals that have come from Icelandair, this is being sacrificed, and we want to raise the question of whether it is truly worth it.We encourage the negotiating committee and members of the Icelandic Flight Attendants' Association to stand firm together and not give up. That you don the Falcon Cloak that Freyja wore in mythology and win this struggle with solidarity.We,Socialist Feminists, stand with you in the wage dispute. Go, Freyjas!On behalf of Socialist FeministsMargrét Pétursdóttir, Ynda Eldborg, Arna Þórdís Árnadóttir, Elísabet Ýr Atladóttir, Jóna Guðbjörg Torfadóttir, Laufey Ólafsdóttir, Katrín Baldursdóttir and Candice Michelle Goddard