Because a union official of the Spanish USO Illes Balears refused to denounce a colleague, Lauda Europe announced the dismissal. According to the employee representative, this is due to the fact that, due to the payment system, the works council sought advice and after the latter strictly refused to disclose the employee's identity, the employee representative was simply shown outside the door.

The airline Lauda Europe introduced a new wage system on January 1, 2021 at the Palma de Mallorca base. As before, this is made up of a basic wage and pay based on flight hours. Due to the corona pandemic, there was little flight in winter, so that many flight attendants only received their basic wages. Apartment rents on the island of Mallorca are very high, so that for many it became literally tight.

In the current case, the employee representative should also be under parental protection, which is why, according to the union, a dismissal should not be permitted at all. Accordingly, one is now going to court against the termination of the employment contract. Again, because USO is conducting various proceedings against both the parent company Ryanair and the subsidiaries Laudamotion and Lauda Europe.

Numerous legal proceedings pending in Spain

Among other things, it is alleged that wages were unlawfully reduced around the corona pandemic. Lauda also made use of support from the ERTE program, which is comparable to the Austrian short-time work. USO accuses that last summer, as a laudamotion, they preferred to leave the Spanish staff on the ground and instead flown in flight attendants and pilots from Germany and Austria. The accusation: The Spaniards continued to be paid by the local employment office and the airline saved considerable costs as a result. According to the USO, the Spanish labor inspectorate should check the processes.

A lawsuit is currently pending before the labor court in Spain to determine that there has been a transfer of business from Laudamotion to Lauda Europe. Company boss David O'Brien was in this context in conversation with Aviation Direct. The outcome of the lengthy legal proceedings is still open. Similar lawsuits are pending before the labor courts in Austria and Germany.

Union considers flight attendant wages to be too low

The USO union generally criticizes the payment system for flight attendants that was felt on January 1, 2021, because the average gross wage is said to be only slightly above the Spanish minimum wage. With reference to the fact that a one-person apartment on Mallorca costs around 500 to 600 euros per month, the junior flight attendants should have very little left to live on. In recent months, the corona pandemic has led to the fact that, due to a lack of flight hours, salaries are said to have even been paid below the minimum wage.

A representative of the USO-Illes Balears said: “The unjustified dismissal of a colleague for union activity against precarious working conditions at Lauda Europe will be brought to court. In many cases the statutory minimum wage is not reached. We are also having that judicially checked. Safety and continuous training require a high degree of specialization. In the 21st century there should be no place for anti-union attitudes like this ”.