Boss on salary dispute

Future prospects jeopardized by wage dispute

AUA boss Annette Mann is concerned about the future of the airline.

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

AUA CEO Annette Mann believes that the airline's growth and future prospects will continue to be jeopardized if the employee representatives insist on their salary demands for the cabin crew. "I hope that we don't have to rethink AUA", she said on Thursday.

The Lufthansa subsidiary has a "huge investment mountain" ahead of it and is competing more strongly than other Group subsidiaries against low-cost providers. If the collective bargaining agreements were too high, routes would become unprofitable and AUA would then have to decide whether to discontinue them or operate them with cheaper Group subsidiaries.

All subsidiaries with their own contracts
The Lufthansa Group has 13 flight operations, the parent company itself only accounts for less than 40 percent of the total business, Mann calculated on "Ö1-Morgenjournal". All these subsidiaries have their own contracts, which are based on the locations and business models in terms of salary and working conditions, the AUA boss once again rejected the demand of the vida trade union to align salaries with Lufthansa levels.

If you are going to compare yourself, then you should compare yourself with the 13 airlines, and I can only say that AUA is in the middle of the field.

AUA-Chefin Annette Mann

"If you are going to compare yourself, then you should compare yourself with the 13 airlines, and I can only say that AUA is in the good midfield," said Mann. In addition, the payments are higher than the collective wage agreements reached in all other sectors over the past eight months.

Negotiations again unsuccessful, offer improved
On Wednesday evening, AUA management and vida representatives once again failed to reach a result in the 20th round of collective bargaining negotiations, but at least there was a rapprochement. The employers have improved their offer for the 3,500 flight attendants and pilots, and the previously variable part of 4 percent is now guaranteed.

The offer level of 18 percent, spread over two years and 10 months, has remained the same. Specifically, AUA is offering a retroactive salary increase of 8 percent from March 1, 2024 and a further 5 percent from January 2025 and January 2026 respectively.

vida wants its members to vote on the offer by the beginning of next week. The collective bargaining negotiations are suspended until then. If the offer is rejected, further industrial action by the union is possible. The airline estimates the damage caused by the labor dispute to date at 24 million euros.