A labor conflict is threatening again at AUA

The reason for this is the collective bargaining agreement on inflation compensation for cabin crews, which was broken off on Monday. The vida trade union has therefore called for works meetings at Vienna Airport for March 7th. Delays and flight cancellations cannot be ruled out on this day, said Daniel Liebhart, chairman of the vida aviation department, on Wednesday. The AUA now wants to make advance payments unilaterally.

Ten rounds of talks since October

Employee representatives and AUA management had already agreed on a collective bargaining agreement in October and decided to gradually withdraw the salary cuts caused by the crisis. After the “unexpectedly good result” of the AUA in the summer and the early repayment of the state-secured loan for the time of the pandemic, the vida union has again called for negotiations on an end to the staff savings package and an appropriate salary adjustment under these changed conditions, according to the union a broadcast. According to vida, there have been around ten rounds of talks since October. The trade union and the Bord works council are not satisfied with the AUA’s offer.

AUA cannot understand criticism

At the airline, “the behavior of the BRB (works council board, note) is incomprehensible,” according to a letter from the AUA board to the employees. According to this, the AUA wants to pay 7 percent inflation compensation from May and increase the starting salaries of flight attendants retrospectively from January 1, 2023 to 2,000 euros gross per month. In addition, the end of the salary waiver had been implemented since January and thus two years earlier than originally agreed. “We also intend to end the remaining parts of the crisis package for our employees in May. We want to pay the pension fund contributions in full again, take over the cleaning of uniforms and make water available in the hotel rooms,” according to the AUA letter.

Seven percent from May corresponds to just a little more than 4.5 percent for the whole of 2023, criticizes the Bord works council, according to a report by “Kurier” online. That was “in no way appropriate in view of the galloping inflation, which is now in the two-digit range”. In addition, the Executive Board left out essentials, such as the reintroduction of on-board catering for long-term missions.

Discussion about bonuses

The union also criticizes that AUA now wants to pay bonuses again. “It’s bizarre that these payments are based on the previous year’s business. At that time, however, the employees were still on short-time work and had to forego a considerable part of their income in order to save the AUA,” says Liebhart.

AUA sees it differently: “We know that these topics are often very controversial, but we have a clear stance here. The variable salary components are part of our executives’ individual contracts, which we now have to and will fulfill again, just like this is the case throughout the group,” said the board of directors in a letter to the employees.

According to an AUA spokeswoman, AUA is “always ready” to start talks again. Many of the points can also be made without social partners. However, the management needs a consensus with the employee representatives for the pension fund payment.