A week ago, German Ryanair pilots voted against a collective agreement negotiated by the Vereinigung Cockpit with Malta Air. The pilots of the low-cost airline are employed in Germany through the Ryanair subsidiary. After the union was not happy with the contract and negotiations, the paper finally failed by a narrow margin with 49.4 of the pilots' votes cast.
Ryanair then announced that it would close its base at Hahn Airport and possibly also the Berlin-Tegel and Weeze bases. The airline also plans to cut jobs at other German airports. Now, however, the pilots' union is relenting.
In a letter of Monday (July, 27) from the Collective Bargaining Commission of the Cockpit Association, which is available to aeroTELEGRAPH, it is stated that an agreement was reached with the employer, which has been binding since Sunday evening. «The collective agreements were signed with the same content as on July 10th.» Malta Air had merely made a unilateral declaration according to which pilots would be asked if they wanted to be transferred to another station in case of temporary station closures before the winter of 2021.
A spokesman for the Cockpit Association told aeroTELEGRAPH that minor improvements in protection against dismissal had also been implemented. Nevertheless, the letter, addressed to the pilots, sums up that they had «with a heavy heart decided to accept the cuts for the next few years that have already been explained to you».
Agreement difficult to accept for many
The cuts include a salary reduction of 20 per cent by the end of June 2022, 14 per cent by the end of June 2023 and 8 per cent by the end of June 2024. The wage commission itself had previously expressed its dissatisfaction with the long duration of the cuts.
The trade unionists write that they are counting on all jobs in the cockpits of Malta Air in Germany being preserved. They also know, however, that the wage agreement is difficult to accept for many of the pilots. «A vote that was almost 50/50 is a clear sign of the complexity of the situation.»
