The ongoing collective agreement dispute involving 3,500 employees at Austrian Airlines continued on Thursday with no resolution in sight. AUA spokeswoman Sophie Matkovits stated that negotiations were ongoing at various levels but there was no set negotiation date yet. Meanwhile, the union confirmed that discussions were taking place, but there seemed to be no change in the airline’s offering.
After 20 rounds of negotiations, Austrian Airlines offered flying personnel, including approximately 900 pilots, an increase of 18 percent in the collective agreement. This included an eight percent raise this year and an additional five percent for both 2025 and 2026. Co-pilots were also set to receive up to a ten percent increase. However, the on-board works council and the Vida union were pushing for a reduction in the salary gap between AUA employees and Lufthansa employees who reportedly earned up to 40 percent more.
Vida Aviation boss Daniel Liebhart expressed disappointment with the management’s offer, stating that while there were some improvements, the extended time frame was not enough to address the underlying issues of underpayment and unequal treatment of Austrian employees within the Lufthansa group. The AUA’s offer was rejected by the union cabin crew with a majority of 90 percent, prompting frustration from AI Austria who accused Vida union of persuading workers to reject a potentially acceptable agreement for the company.
The longer the collective agreement dispute continues, the greater
