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Airport security personnel hold staff meetings

Airport security personnel hold staff meetings

The union wants to provide information about their wage demands as part of special collective bargaining negotiations. However, after the social partners recently spoke more intensively with each other again and there was movement in the negotiations, the effects on travelers, at least in Vienna, should remain manageable, according to both sides.

“No impact on travelers”

Vienna Airport expressly refers to the relaxation: “We are currently in constructive talks with the employee representatives. The works meeting at VIAS scheduled for tomorrow, November 22nd, 2022, will only last about an hour, we do not expect any effects on travelers,” it says in an opinion.

In Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz, the security officers will be informed on Tuesday, in Salzburg on Friday morning. The union is demanding a significant wage increase for the security staff as part of special KV negotiations and an approximation to the German level, which in 2023 – taking allowances and special payments into account – will be around 50 to 70 percent above the Austrian level.

Low pay, high stress

According to the VIAS collective agreement, young professionals in Vienna currently receive 9.94 euros gross per hour, i.e. 1,722 euros gross for 40 hours per week. After 16 years of service it is 11.40 euros gross per hour. Vienna Airport counters that, including variable allowances and bonuses, VIAS employees have an average effective hourly wage of EUR 13.45. In addition, there is an annual profit-sharing bonus of around EUR 500 per employee, which has been in place since June and which is also to be paid out next year. A KV increase from January has also already been decided. In this context, the trade union points out the uncertainty of variable income components.

The collective agreement for the security industry applies at the federal state airports, here 11.52 per hour are paid regardless of seniority. “Even at the airports in the federal states, wages must be in the direction of Germany, i.e. in the direction of 3,000 euros gross per month,” demands the KV negotiator for the employees, Gernot Kopp, in a broadcast. The second round of KV negotiations for the industry came to an end last week without a result, and given the high inflation, the employer’s offer “should not be taken seriously,” writes Kopp.

Apart from the wage level, the union also criticizes the high workload on the staff. Although air traffic has increased sharply again, VIAS only employs 950 people, before the pandemic it was 1,300, according to the broadcast.

Source: Nachrichten

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