“I hope that we don’t have to rethink the AUA,” she said on Thursday in the “Ö1-Morgenjournal”. The Lufthansa subsidiary has a “huge mountain of investment” in front of it and is flying more strongly against low-cost providers than other group subsidiaries.
If the collective agreements were too high, routes would become unprofitable and the AUA would then have to see whether it would discontinue them or serve them with cheaper subsidiaries. The Lufthansa Group has 13 flight operations, and the parent company itself only accounts for less than 40 percent of the total business, Mann calculated. All of these subsidiaries have their own contracts, the salaries and working conditions of which are based on the locations and business models, the AUA boss once again rejected the demand of the vida union for salaries to be brought into line with Lufthansa levels.
“The AUA is in the good midfield”
“If you’re going to compare yourself, then you should compare yourself with the 13 airlines, and I can only say that the AUA is in the good midfield,” said Mann. In addition, the payments would be higher than the KV agreements agreed in all other sectors in the last eight months.
On Wednesday evening, AUA management and the vida representatives again failed to achieve a result in the 20th round of KV negotiations, but at least there was a rapprochement. The employers have improved their offer for the 3,500 flight attendants and pilots; the previously variable part of 4 percent is now guaranteed. The offer level has remained the same at 18 percent, divided over two years and 10 months. Specifically, the AUA is offering a salary increase of 8 percent retroactively from March 1, 2024 and a further 5 percent from January 2025 and January 2026.
vida wants to let its members vote on the offer by the beginning of next week. The KV negotiations have been interrupted until then. If the offer is rejected, further action by the union is possible. The airline estimates the damage caused by the labor dispute to date at 24 million euros.
