The vida union currently sees only limited scope for discussions because the AUA board has flown to Frankfurt. “We are not the ones who got on the plane,” said Daniel Liebhart, chairman of vida’s aviation department, to the APA on Friday. If the AUA does not present a “serious offer” during the day, the union and the on-board works council will determine the next steps in the late afternoon or early evening. These could be company meetings or strikes by on-board staff with around 3,500 employees – and could hit the airline hard during Easter week. The most recent board staff meeting resulted in 120 flight cancellations.
Strike requires “just the push of a button”
There is hardly any lead time required for a strike, said Liebhart. “We just need to press a button to inform the employees.” Accordingly, a strike could be called for tomorrow.
A works meeting, on the other hand, must be organized by the works council. “We will make a responsible decision,” announced the trade unionist. AUA board works council leader Rainer Stratberger could not be reached by the APA on Friday.
Trigger of the work conflict: The employee representatives broke off the negotiations on Thursday evening and are demanding a new offer from the airline. The present offer only covers inflation and there is no increase in real wages, the union also said. The current salary structure is also significantly lower than that of the German parent company Lufthansa.
Offers and number games
The AUA is available for negotiations at any time, said a company spokeswoman. The airline’s offer includes salary increases of 18 percent and up to 28 percent for co-pilots, the AUA said. However, the KV should then apply until the end of 2025. According to the AUA, the union’s demand amounts to increases of up to 40 percent with a validity of 10 months. “We would have made a loss last year,” the AUA said. However, the union noted that these were numbers games. And: They are definitely prepared to negotiate a KV for the next 22 months – i.e. until the end of 2025.
The AUA also referred to the employee bonus: the airline is paying out a total of around 30 million euros this year; if the airline is economically successful, employees would receive up to an extra month’s salary. And they are prepared to increase the bonus so that employees could receive up to two months’ salary in the future.
