LONDON (Reuters) – Danish pension fund AkademikerPension said on Monday it was selling its stake in budget airline Wizz Air over alleged “human and labour rights abuses” towards its workers.
The $23 billion fund was one of 14 investors that called on Wizz in December to allow employees to form and join trade unions, saying their research suggested it was discouraging the practice in breach of staff rights.
AkademikerPension said on Monday that, after meeting management, it saw no sign the airline’s practices would change, and so it had begun to divest its holding, worth more than $3 million. Wizz Air’s market value is around $6 billion.
“Wizz Air takes the engagement with its employees very seriously and we are confident that our structures and processes that have been in place to support open and transparent engagement are working extremely well, including our People Council, which provides a forum for employees to discuss important issues,” the airline said in a statement.
It also pointed to plans to hire more than 1,000 staff in the coming months and said it had restored the pay of cabin crew and staff to pre-pandemic levels as the industry recovers from the pandemic.
($1 = 0.7376 pounds)
(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Mark Potter)
