Due to the company meeting of the AUA workforce scheduled for this day, 92 flights will be canceled, as the airline announced in a press release on Tuesday. The approximately 8,000 passengers affected have already been informed and rebooked. Originally there were 325 flights scheduled for Thursday.
According to the information, 80 flights can be carried out during the works meeting, which starts on April 4th at 9 a.m. Long-haul flights also take place as planned. However, short-term adjustments to the flight plan are still possible. “Passengers are therefore asked to check their flight status in good time on the austrian.com website, the Austrian app or via Travel ID (with registration),” the statement said.
Stalled KV negotiations
The background to the company meetings and the renewed flight cancellations is the stalled collective agreement negotiations and subsequent strikes. The union is calling for the wage level of the AUA workforce to be adjusted to that of the Lufthansa Group. However, the company has so far shown no intention of complying with this.
The fronts between AUA management and the union have recently hardened noticeably: AUA boss Annette Mann suggested that the Lufthansa Group might serve Vienna with cheaper airlines in the future if the workforce did not scale back their demands. The vida union was “irritated” by the “threats from the German side”.
24 million euros in damage
At the upcoming works meeting, the AUA works council will discuss how to proceed with the workforce. Vida boss Roman Hebenstreit recently did not rule out further strikes. Negotiations are unlikely to take place once more until next week. “Until then, discussions will take place at different levels,” as an AUA spokeswoman said. On Tuesday, the airline estimated the financial damage caused so far by the KV dispute at 24 million euros.
