AUA works meeting: flight cancellations and mini warning strike

Seats Airbus A320neo (Photo: Jan Gruber).
Seats Airbus A320neo (Photo: Jan Gruber).

AUA works meeting: flight cancellations and mini warning strike

Seats Airbus A320neo (Photo: Jan Gruber).
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On Tuesday, March 7, 2023, works meetings convened by the Vida union and the board works council took place at Austrian Airlines. A kind of “mini warning strike” was then held until 14:30 p.m.

The reason for this is a staff meeting of the airline, which had to be initiated because of a disagreement between management and the Vida union. At the works meeting, the staff was informed about the renegotiations of the collective agreement. Now that the airline has been able to pay off its government debt, it is longing for an end to the workforce savings package announced amid the pandemic. However, management refused. This gathering caused about 34 flight cancellations and delays to Eastern Europe, but some of them also to Germany and neighboring Switzerland.

Around 1.200 employees took part

According to the Vida union, around 1.200 AUA employees took part in the works meeting. Towards the end, it was unanimously decided to hold a “symbolic warning strike” that lasted until 14:30 p.m. According to employee representatives, management would be aware of this move. The motto of the event was: "We won't let ourselves be planted any longer".

The aim of the strike, as was the reason for the works meeting before, is to bring the AUA management back to the negotiating table, which at the beginning of last week broke off the social partner negotiations with the Vida union after ten rounds since October 2022. "We demand a corresponding cost-of-living adjustment for the employees, which also deserves the name, as well as an immediate and complete end for the personnel savings package without lazy compromises. We call on the AUA management to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible,” demanded Vida deputy chairwoman Olivia Janisch at the works meeting. 

Conversations stalled

“The compensation of 7 percent achieved in October during the KV negotiations is not to take effect until May. However, average inflation has been much higher in recent months. You can't offset a crisis savings package with increases in health insurance," says Vida department head Daniel Liebhart. Around 3.200 flight attendants and pilots of Austrian Airlines are affected. With reference to the carrier's latest business figures, the employee representatives are again demanding higher wages for the employees. One should not forget the everyday price increases either.

However, the fronts between the management and the employee representatives have hardened, because only a few days ago the AUA management is said to have broken off the social partner talks without any result. This was also the trigger for the works meeting that was held on Tuesday. Sauer also tells the Vida union members that bonus payments are to be made to management again for 2022, even though the savings package was still active for “normal employees” and the state loan was only repaid towards the end of 2022.

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