Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Ryanair / Malta Air - Back to the negotiating table!

Nearly 88% of the pilots of Malta Air (a subsidiary of Ryanair, which belongs to the Ryanair Group and employs pilots based in Germany, among others) organized in Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) have participated in a vote against a package of measures demanded by the employer since last week. Despite the extension of short-time work and the associated employment protection, less than half (49.4%) voted in favour of accepting the agreements sought by Malta Air. They thus support the view of the executive board of VC, according to which the demanded collective bargaining agreement would have had the potential to harm both the affected members at Malta Air and the entire pilot community throughout Germany. In addition, the Executive Board considered the duration of the offered job security until March 2021 to be insufficient against the background of demanded long-term cuts intended until 2024.

The subject of the member survey was what the employer after months of sporadic talks presented as not being negotiable, otherwise more than 170 pilots in Germany would receive their dismissal: Flexible short-time work, remuneration only for flying hours flown, but at a drastically reduced daily and hourly rate, and all this with a simultaneous increase in productivity, i.e. a higher operational burden on employees.

Strange: Productivity-enhancing measures would mean that more employees would become dispensable. For this reason alone, the alleged surplus of cockpit crews could have become more entrenched. What is particularly curious is that the employer wants the possibility to hire new staff at further reduced conditions. This would have been of benefit to him, after all Ryanair recently announced again that it wants to take advantage of its opportunities in the German market and also wants to bid for the new take-off and landing rights in Frankfurt and Munich that are currently being awarded.

The employer's reaction to the refusal followed promptly and in the usual style: instead of responding to the likewise expressed request for renegotiation, he blamed the collective bargaining commission in the company's internal communication channels for the failure of the members' vote and issued a warning: Today, Tuesday, the collective dismissal of employees and the closure of bases in Germany would be announced. Nevertheless, we are not giving up hope. The employer would be well advised to quickly get back to the negotiating table now.

Contact:
Janis Schmitt, Board Member and Spokesperson, Tel. 0176 / 16 959 001,
VC press office, Tel. 069 / 69 59 76 102

VC is the German Airline Pilots‘ Association. The fundamental objectives of the VC are contributing to the welfare and safety of civil aviation as well as ensuring and pursuing the interests of its 9,600 members regarding technical affairs and industrial affairs.

V. i. S. d. P.: Vereinigung Cockpit, Unterschweinstiege 10, 60549 Frankfurt, phone.: 069 / 69 59 76 - 0, fax: 069 / 69 59 76 - 150; presse@vcockpit.de, www.VCockpit.de

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