Actually, an election meeting of around 8 employees at the Malta Air base in Berlin-Brandenburg should have taken place on December 2022, 300. This should have determined an electoral board for the establishment of a works council. However, the regional labor court threw a spanner in the works, because a lawsuit by Malta Air prohibited the holding of the meeting.

The course of things is quite remarkable, because in the first instance, the Ryanair subsidiary flashed off before the Cottbus labor court. The regional labor court in Berlin-Brandenburg saw the matter differently and temporarily prohibited the holding of the election assembly. The Verdi union was thus forced to cancel this, so that the course for the establishment of a Malta Air works council in Germany could not be set.

It is well known that the Ryanair Group is not particularly happy with works councils or trade unions. For example, the election of the last Laudamotion works council was not recognized in Austria. They sued and ultimately lost in court. The verdict was not really important for the employees, because Laudamotion no longer operates as an airline. The successor Lauda Europe Ltd. does not have a works council at the Vienna-Schwechat base.

In Germany, Malta Air operates on behalf of its sister company Ryanair DAC. In concrete terms, this means that the personnel employed in the Federal Republic are employed by the Maltese carrier. So far there is no works council. The Verdi union wants to change that, but the employer is using legal means to defend itself. According to the partial judgment of the regional labor court, this was initially successful.

"Of course we accept the court decision, but we regret it," said Verdi union secretary Dennis Dacke. "Malta Air workers are standing together resolutely to elect a works council and will not be discouraged by this delay." The election meeting was announced eight days ago with sufficient advance notice. Verdi will now set a new date for the election meeting.

The Verdi union is now evaluating the court decision and wants to announce a new date for the next attempt, which should lead to the establishment of a Malta Air works council in Germany, as soon as possible. It is expected that the employer could again take legal action.