In the run-up to today's press conference with Austro Control on the subject of “Flying out of the crisis - sustainable and safe”, the aviation department in the Vida union asked eight urgent questions about the new sustainable and social dimension for flight personnel that is still a long way off Magnus Brunner, State Secretary for Aviation.

"Well over a year after the outbreak of the pandemic, there is still a lack of announced framework conditions for a sustainable recovery in aviation so that it does not fall back into the unscrupulous dumping competition from before the crisis," states Daniel Liebhart, Chairman of the Vida Aviation Department. The danger is too great that economic, social and ecological sustainability will fall short again. 

At the European level, the federal government had rightly tackled the big questions such as uniform social standards. "At the national level, however, at which State Secretary Brunner would be able to act directly and directly ensure more sustainability, unfortunately almost nothing has happened to date," says Liebhart, calling for the announced measures to be implemented.

“The outbreak of the corona virus has acted like a fire accelerator on the aviation business due to the prevailing dumping competition at Vienna Airport. The social dumping pressure on workers was abruptly increased, ”said the Vida unionist. The airlines, with their equity capital weak due to the merciless competition, were not in a position to weather a pandemic. “But now, well over a year later, the first sustainable and social measures for fair competition and treatment of staff could already be established. Why is nothing of it to be seen yet? We therefore expect concrete answers to our questions from State Secretary Brunner and no consolation for later, ”affirmed Liebhart.

Vida’s eight questions to State Secretary Brunner are as follows:

1. Where are the national and European results for the minimum ticket price of 40 euros announced by the government in the context of climate protection and as a measure against social dumping? 
2. Where are the results for the announced social standards for flight personnel in Europe in order to finally get a better grip on low-cost airlines, which often trample national law in a tricky way? When does an aviation summit take place with all parties involved?
3. The new corporate forms of the low-cost airlines, which have found their way through European liberalization, can legally prevent the establishment of a works council. Where is the adaptation of the Austrian Labor Constitution Act to the new operating forms of pan-European airlines?
4. Where is the amendment of the Act to Combat Wage and Social Dumping? The current version does not take into account an irregular CT landscape like the airlines. There are currently only company collective agreements, as the Chamber of Commerce has so far rejected an industry collective agreement. A determination of whether local wages are paid is just as impossible as the fight against social dumping.
5. Where is the increase in control resources for the financial police and the transport labor inspectorate? The supervisory authorities have suffered from a blatant staff shortage for years.
6. Why has no concept for regular checks at airlines been drawn up yet? It must be guaranteed that every low-cost airline can also be checked at regular intervals with regard to wage and social dumping? Currently, some airlines are “slipping” through this control mechanism, as the necessary access authorizations under aviation law for the control authorities were not issued by the airport after consultation with the responsible Ministry of the Interior and Climate Protection. In contrast to a classic construction site, an airline's business model is highly mobile. Controls can therefore only be carried out after the arrival or before departure of an airline - a control concept must take this into account.
7. Why has not a register been set up with all pilots and flight attendants who have their home base in Austria? With some low-cost airlines, the staff is registered abroad and their place of work is in Austria. No public authority in Austria currently knows how many employees are affected, although these employees are subject to Austrian labor law. Such a register is urgently necessary for efficient controls by the labor inspectorate and the correct payment of social security contributions as well as the correct registration of employees.
8. Why have various double taxation agreements in Austria still not been renegotiated? There are currently agreements under which a company domiciled abroad can pay the income tax of flying personnel abroad at lower tax rates. Airlines that offer better-paid jobs in Austria and provide their tax payments here are coming under pressure and will try to shift their tax payments abroad as well.