The Vida trade union warns of further social dumping and is calling on the government to finally move on measures to secure locations and jobs.

Eurowings Europe, which is part of the Lufthansa Group and is based at Vienna Airport, is now doing the same for low-cost airlines Ryanair/Laudamotion and is founding another company branch in Malta. “I currently cannot and do not want to believe vague announcements by the airline that there should be no deterioration for the employees. What happened in the recent past at Laudamotion with regard to social dumping and violations of employee rights in Austria is well known," Daniel Liebhart, chairman of the aviation department in the union, calls on the company to start talks with Vida immediately.

“Eurowings and the Lufthansa Group received financial support from Austria during the crisis. As a thank you, they now embark on tax evasion at the first opportunity. It is not for nothing that we have repeatedly asked the federal government to at least demand job guarantees from aviation companies in return for crisis support," criticized Liebhart. For years, the union has warned the federal government and the Chamber of Commerce that measures against wage and social dumping and for fair competition are needed at both national - for example with a framework collective agreement for the industry - and European level to secure locations and jobs. “However, the initiatives announced by the government and the EU Commission seem to have died out. You don't even want to imagine what it would mean for the location and the employees if the AUA, which was coming under increasing competitive pressure at Vienna Airport, also took the route to Malta," warns Liebhart.

So far, Eurowings has not made any binding commitments that the rights of employees on the way to Malta will remain unaffected. Liebhart therefore calls on the company to immediately explain in talks with the union how something like this can work at all. "All currently binding commitments, such as job security, are linked to Eurowings Europe GmbH in Austria," the Vida trade unionist criticizes the approach of Eurowings and Lufthansa. "I call on the company that the union must be involved immediately in such drastic decisions for the employees - in accordance with good social partnership practices, this should have happened long ago. Empty phrases to the staff that nothing will change are definitely not enough here,” Liebhart affirmed in conclusion.