Many Lauda employees marched through Vienna's inner city for a rally on Thursday to draw attention to their tricky situation. The management set a new deadline for the conclusion of the collective agreement. WKO and Vida will negotiate again on Wednesday. State Secretary Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) tries to mediate.

On Tuesday morning, between 300 and 400 Lauda employees demonstrated in front of parliament and then moved through the Volksgarten in front of the National Council's replacement quarters, past the presidential chancellery and the federal chancellery. The final rally took place for the Vienna City Hall. The number of participants was enormous this time, with the pilots clearly in the majority. Many brought their children with them and some demonstrated with them on their arms.

At least the demonstrators claimed that the company's works council did not take part in the rally, which is not recognized by management and allegedly has no significant support from the workforce. However, via a media release sent by the union, the works council does not stand behind the many demonstrating Lauda employees: "I am shocked by the way in which the company is trying to harness the workforce in order to misuse them for its propaganda purposes", so Kerstin Hager, chairwoman of the committee. "Since I fulfilled my duties as chairman of the works council and denounced grievances in the company, the management shot at me in order to make the works council as a whole bad for the workforce".

Furthermore, the statements by Kerstin Hager completely coincide with the statements that the Vida trade union and its chairman Roman Hebenstreit have made to various media over the past few days. The fact that artificial pressure would be built up that was already seen in the course of short-time work has been criticized particularly fiercely. This could be extended to up to two years, so that from the point of view of Hager and Vida there would be no need for a new CT.

The management of the airline Lauda announced in a letter to the Vida and WKO that a new deadline will be set until Thursday. Otherwise, Ryanair will announce the addition of 65 routes on Friday, which will be served by a total of 18 Boeing 737-800s. Ryanair has already distributed the draft press release to various media.

New negotiations, Secretary of State mediated

In the aftermath of the demonstration, it emerged that the Austrian Chamber of Commerce had invited the Vida union to hold further talks. These will take place on June 3, 2020 from 17:00 p.m. in the WKO building in Vienna. Both social partners have confirmed this.

State Secretary Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) is now trying to mediate between the company or the WKO and the union. However, he does not want to interfere, just meditate. His office announced: “On the part of the federal government, State Secretary Brunner had talks with the trade union, the Chamber of Commerce and management and appealed to those involved to take steps towards one another. It is clear that the social partnership is a tried and tested system in Austria and collective bargaining is a matter for the employees and employer representatives. "