The turbulence at Lufthansa subsidiary AUA continues. After aircrew union members voted to reject management’s latest improved offer (an increase of 18 to 28 percent), more strikes are now likely to follow. A total of twenty (!) rounds of negotiations have already failed. At the end of March, the AUA had suffered a loss of no less than 122 million euros, partly due to the disputes.
While there are already numerous areas, such as the poultry industry (+6.78 percent), the agricultural holdings in Carinthia (+7.02 percent), the religious hospitals in Upper Austria (+9.15 percent) or the paper processing industry (+7.8 percent) ), could agree on a new collective labor agreement (KV), the intense turbulence in the KV discussions for the flying staff of the AUA (approximately 3,500 employees) continues. After twenty rounds of negotiations, the union decided to put the improved offer from the AUA management to the vote of the affected union members.
AUA offer rejected by 90 percent of voters
During the voting, a distinction was made between pilots (approximately 1,000 captains and co-pilots) and cabin crew (approximately 2,500). Only when both groups agree to the new KV contract presented will the matter be over. According to initial reports from the union, this was the case. Overall, just 10 percent voted in favor of the offer – with a high turnout of 88 percent of voters, it is said.
The AUA board is critical of the way the vote took place
The AUA emphasizes that they have made a “very good offer, which is already well within the limits of the company’s economic performance”. At the same time, AUA boss Annette Mann criticized the way the voting process took place. This is “incomprehensible”. Not only were two groups formed (pilots and cabin crew), but only AUA flying staff who were also union members were allowed to vote. That is “only” about 60 percent. The rest were not allowed to vote, even if it concerned their own wages.
Work meetings and strikes may follow
Next week there will probably be more flight cancellations at the AUA, because now the way is clear for the union for further work meetings, strikes and therefore also flight cancellations. According to Vida, it is still unclear how things will proceed and when we will sit at the negotiating table again.
In any case, the victims are the passengers, as the airline will likely have to rebook the affected passengers at short notice and minimize the damage to the company. But dissatisfaction with the Vida trade union and the works council is also growing noticeably internally. Nearly a third of AUA ground employees recently pleaded in a letter to the on-board works council for more common sense and an end to the dispute. After all, thousands of jobs would be at stake if the airline were to crash due to excessive salary demands.
AUA with a loss in the triple-digit million range this year
The latest strikes and rallies have already cost the airline an impressive 26 million euros. In addition, due to the damaged image, there are approximately 10 million euros in booking losses. In addition to the generally weaker occupancy, these are the main reasons why the first quarter showed a loss (EBIT) of 122 million euros (after a loss of 73 million euros in the same period of the previous year).
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.
