On Thursday, 92 flights at Austrian Airlines were canceled due to a company meeting. Negotiations on a new collective labor agreement for HvA on-board staff will continue on Monday, as has now been announced.
“If the AUA managers were to take their offer for an increase of 18 to 28 percent seriously, results would be achieved quickly,” Vida boss Roman Hebenstreit said after the factory meeting. In fact, these figures also include bonuses that would never be achieved, or that changes in opening hours would be offset. “An analysis by the works council shows: the bottom line is that this would be nothing more than pure inflation compensation.”
According to estimates by the works council, the personnel cost share of our own staff is eleven percent and this would increase by several percentage points if the requirements were met. To align AUA salaries with those of the German Lufthansa group, there are also considerations for a step-by-step plan, Hebenstreit said.
More than a thousand employees attended the meeting
More than a thousand employees attended the factory meeting and the staff stood united behind the negotiating team. Shareholders and the management team would receive ‘fat dividends’, while employees would not be allowed to participate.
Günther Ofner, board member of Vienna Airport and chairman of the aviation industry at the Chamber of Commerce, sees it very differently. “The flight cancellations provoked by Vida and the AUA works council are an action to drive away customers and, above all, play into the hands of AUA’s competition.” The airport and the supply companies are being “ruthlessly held hostage.”
Salary increase of 18 versus 40 percent
As reported, seventeen rounds of negotiations have so far not led to an agreement. Hundreds of flights have been canceled since then. The AUA works council and the union demand that wages be brought into line with those of Lufthansa. That means an increase of 40 percent. Management is offering up to 18 percent more for pilots and plus 28 percent for co-pilots over two years. If salaries were increased even further, 60 percent of AUA positions would be unprofitable, management argues.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
