Employees of the Lauda airline marched in their uniforms in front of the headquarters of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions and put pressure on them. A solution has to be found in order to be able to save the jobs after all. The protesters are angry about their representation. Vida now wants to try again with the WKO to find a solution.

In front of the headquarters of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions, numerous employees of the Lauda airline demonstrated on Monday. These were both employees of the airline itself and temporary staff from Crewlink. The demonstrators were welcomed by Vida boss Roman Hebenstreit and group leader Daniel Liebhart.

On the course of the conversation between the Lauda demonstrators and the trade unionists, however, opinions differ widely. Vida specialist group leader Daniel Liebhart speaks of a constructive conversation and announces that contact will now be made again with the Chamber of Commerce. At the same time he strongly criticized the previous behavior of the management of the airline Lauda and emphasized that the document could not be signed. The negotiations are said to have been rather untypical, because according to him they weren't real negotiations, because the Chamber of Commerce is said to have insisted on the signature of exactly these papers on behalf of Lauda.

“The demands of management were simply put on the table for us. You should then sign this. Otherwise, the threat will be implemented, i.e. close the base and terminate all employees. It is the sad climax of Ryanair's staging to get rid of the base in Vienna. It started a long time ago. The Corona crisis certainly served as a fire accelerator. "

Daniel Liebhart. In conversation with Aviation.Direct

Liebhart also found today's day unusual, because “I've never experienced anything like this before. Not we, but the management of Laudamotion, respectively Ryanair, are jeopardizing their jobs for absolutely no reason. Due to the short-time working, there is absolutely no economic reason to close the Vienna base. ”The Lauda management's approach would generally be downright absurd, because commercial negotiations are normally conducted by the social partners, i.e. the Chamber of Commerce and the trade union.

When asked about the three “worst no-gos” from Vida’s point of view in the collective agreement that the Lauda management wanted to enforce, Daniel Liebhart replied:

“On the one hand, much of the collective agreement contradicts the safety recommendations after the Germanwings accident. In addition, the discretion of the duty roster creation lies exclusively with the employer. In addition, the proposed salaries are well below the industry average. That culminates with the fact that you get a base salary where the net amount is less than the minimum income. "

Daniel Liebhart

Regarding the further course of action of the Vida union, the section leader said: “We will once again ask the Chamber of Commerce to conduct meaningful negotiations with us about the Laudamotion. The emphasis is on negotiations. If both want, a sensible solution can be found. It therefore very much depends on how the Chamber of Commerce emancipates itself as a social partner. "

Daniel Liebhart himself does not work for any airline, but is an air traffic controller at Austro Control. “At Austro Control we work with fewer staff than before, as fewer planes fly. It is precisely this situation that is often challenging. Two planes and a short diversion are enough. You have to be aware of this, safety must not be neglected, ”said the unionist. “Nobody wants this overload of the last few years, i.e. before Corona, back. If we could manage it on a normal level and not always take the extremes, that would be nice for the future too. "

Lauda employees are disappointed

Employees from various nations took part in the demonstration in front of the ÖGB building in Vienna's second district. A perfectly appropriate opportunity to ask the pilots and flight attendants who are present why they are here today and what expectations they have for the future. When asked how to save the Vienna base, a stewardess said: “Before you do anything, you should sign this agreement and save jobs. In retrospect, you can renegotiate ”.

Many of those present also criticized the company's works council. When asked why one does not stand behind the works council and pull together with them, one flight attendant said:

“We don't have a works council. What is called a works council is not viewed by the majority of colleagues as a works council. In my opinion, there are only very few people behind it and the works council didn't really support us beyond that. "

A Lauda flight attendant during the demo.

A steward expressly emphasized that the management had nothing to do with the demonstration. Incidentally, he is not employed by Crewlink himself, but directly by Lauda. “The four of us built the demo out of the ground within 60 hours. You can't say that we don't have the need to demonstrate and save our jobs, ”said the flight attendant. A colleague added: "Especially in this crisis we all have to stick together." Another flight attendant shouted: "My thoughts are with those who are afraid of their existence because of losing their jobs".

A pilot also pointed out Niki Lauda and said that it was sad what Ryanair had done. "Niki Lauda's life's work is being so destroyed," is his criticism towards Michael O'Leary. A flight attendant also said that not only are the damned poor prospects for a new job "very depressing", but "It's not just a job, it's a passion for all of us".

Some participants also directed criticism towards the media. In the aviation sector, for example, they would be focused almost exclusively on Austrian Airlines at the moment and would only have perceived the fate of the Lauda employees when the “big bang” came. One pilot had particularly bitter criticism in store: “A website, I'll call it“ Lauda-Bashing-News ”, spread a bad mood against us from day one and now presented us cheekily as proverbial idiots that we are here today stand. And then there are big newspapers that simply copy this pure hatred against us Lauda employees without checking. We're always just the "bad Lauda", but should everything be great at AUA? Wake up, dear media, we also have families and livelihoods and are faced with nothing. "

Another flight attendant severely criticized the Vida press release. He also wrote his displeasure to various media, the Chamber of Commerce and the management of the union: “I was at the event and there was no such agreement that you mention in your mailing. On the contrary - the workforce asked Vida to act. And it was clearly demanded from all Lauda employees that the Vida gets going. Not that we protest against anything together. The Lauda employees protested against the Vida. That's a slap in the face, thank God at least one medium was present. "

"Because it's about our jobs and livelihoods"

Paulo Patena, base supervisor of the Vienna cabin crew, is one of the organizers of the demonstration. Regarding the reasons why this was set up at all, the flight attendant said: “Because it's about our jobs and our livelihoods. It simply cannot be that we accept the new conditions with a large majority and that the Vida union did not even speak to us before the rejection. That is unfair and undemocratic, we want to keep our jobs ”.

When asked about what the works council had done, Patena said: “We don't have a works council. What is called the works council has no support from the workforce and does not work for us, but against us. But that's not the point today. We want Vida to work with us and the Chamber of Commerce to find a solution that will keep our jobs safe. ”The all-day demonstration was a bit like working in shifts, because the participants regularly took turns, for example to meet obligations to be able to follow children. Around 50 Lauda employees were in front of the union building throughout, with a total of around 150 demonstrators taking part over the course of the day. "This so-called chairwoman of the so-called works council does not represent the majority of the crew," said Patena.

It is unclear whether the Lauda management will accept a subsequent conclusion of a collective agreement and keep the Vienna base open. No discussions have been held in this regard, Patena emphasizes: “This campaign today is organized purely by us employees. The management has nothing to do with it. We just try to get the whole thing moving again and maybe with our combined forces we can bring everything to a happy ending. "

However, it remained a little unclear why this demonstration only took place now, because the union would probably have done better if the employees' wishes had been known more clearly beforehand. Daniel Liebhart said that the whole situation is very difficult and was not caused in Vienna but in Dublin and that without any justified reason. “Vida had more than four weeks to find a solution for us or to sign the document. From our point of view, she didn't do anything. Why did they let so much time go by? ”The base supervisor counters.

"Have thrown our letter for the feet Hebenstreit"

The Lauda employee does not feel well treated by Vida boss Roman Hebenstreit and specialist group leader Daniel Liebhart. According to Patena's accounts, they refused to accept the open letter, which is said to have been signed by 231 flight employees, three times in a row.

“This open letter, which you rejected three times, has been left at your feet. The metaphor of what you do with our jobs. I reiterate: this was not a manifestation against laudamotion. This was a manifestation against Vida and its destruction of 500 jobs "

Paulo Patena

Patena also addressed the following questions to Vida: “Why have you never made a counter-proposal to the WKO when you received these GTC / CLA mostly a month ago? Why is it better to force the Austrian state to pay Laudamotion crews short-time work if we are to fly again in July? Why did you constantly refuse to treat people of other nationalities as equals and insist on speaking in German when I repeatedly asked to speak English as a common language? Mr. Hebenstreit said to me: “Please keep your feelings away from this conversation”, to which I replied: “You have not received any calls from crew members who have cried because they have lost their jobs.” Her despicable answer was “It was not my phone. Why the question "Why have you never replied to my e-mails and questions in the last few months when I pay my membership fee?" Was made by one of my crew members and actually connected to VIDA, left without an answer? Why are you denying 500 crew members the right to work when more than half of them have shown their will to work under the terms of the new proposed CLA? Who gives you the right to play with people's lives? ”.

"Vida relies on untrue facts"

“In the end, you based your decision not to sign this KV on the untrue fact that the occupation would live below the current poverty risk threshold. Despite the fact that it's not because you're leaving paid block hours and sales commissions outside of your calculations, why didn't you sign the pilot CLA? You are well above the poverty line…. Another question remained unanswered. In the interests of the staff you are so committed to the defense, please stop sharing false news on this matter. My best advice to you, and I said when I left today, please go to your offices and start working on their use. Something that comes with a delay of at least a month, ”said Patena.

Regarding the often visible English language and the alleged concerns of the union, which, however, in an interview with Aviation.Direct emphasized that as an aviation union you can speak and speak English, the demonstration organizer said: “Lauda and her employees are multicultural . That's why we don't understand why the representatives of Vida communicate with us in German, even though they both speak English. My colleagues translated continuously. ”Vida unionist Daniel Liebhart said that this would not be the case.

Patena does not see the background to the behavior of Vida in legal concerns, but in:

“I believe that an example will be set with us. It cannot be that AUA can send its crews on short-time work within a week, while it takes so long for us. While Vida has always supported the AUA's plans, it refuses to do so with us. Over 500 people and families are at stake ”.

Paulo Patena

“In the end, the dialogue was not what we imagined. Many unanswered questions remain. Why couldn't a revised counter-offer be submitted in one month, for example, ”is the conclusion of the demo organizer.