In Düsseldorf and Stuttgart, according to a circular from the HR manager, the May salaries cannot be paid out due to a lack of funds. The company is suing the authority's decision and asks the Verdi union for help.

While the Lauda airline in Austria voluntarily ended short-time work because the Vida trade union did not sign the pre-prepared collective agreement, the German Federal Employment Agency in Würzburg threw off the application, which had caused quite a stir in the run-up, analogous to Austria. This means that the German Lauda employees are not on short-time work and the employment office does not pay any money to the company.

As a reminder: at the end of April 2020, head of personnel Robert Wall threatened the pilots and flight attendants at the bases in Düsseldorf and Stuttgart that they could no longer pay their April salaries due to a lack of funds, unless the unions conclude a collective agreement on short-time work and the employees agree for this. Employees of the German Lauda-Bases unanimously stated that for April 2020 they have received their remuneration in the amount of the short-time work allowance plus the top-up negotiated by Verdi and the Cockpit Association. So it can be concluded that the funds were there.

Lauda obtained a preliminary commitment from the Würzburg Federal Employment Agency, which was processing the application, which was withdrawn five days later. A negative decision followed, with neither the authority nor the company providing information on the reasons on request. In an interview with Aviation.Direct, managing director Andreas Gruber only confirmed that the application for short-time work had been rejected. An appeal against the decision had been lodged and, due to the ongoing legal proceedings, he was unable to comment on the content.

May salaries cannot be paid out

The German Lauda employees received a cover letter from Head of Human Resources Robert Wall, which Aviation.Direct has received. While reading, the employees in Stuttgart and Düsseldorf are likely to have received a Dejavu, because the Lauda manager writes again that without the short-time working funds, the company would have no money to pay salaries. Therefore, the May salaries cannot be paid out, but hopes that a solution can be found so that the wages can be paid later by mid-June. Wall describes the decision of the Federal Employment Agency as unlawful and this would lead to the wages and jobs of German Lauda employees being at risk. It is particularly noteworthy, however, that the HR manager also writes that he has asked the Verdi union for support in obtaining short-time work. A novelty, because the group is generally considered to be anti-union, as is currently very clearly shown in Austria.

In Germany, Lauda employees are very worried about the future, as there is no protection in the event of non-payment of wages. This would only take effect if the company or a creditor filed for bankruptcy beforehand. In such a scenario, there would then be bankruptcy money from the employment office. Many former Air Berlin and Niki employees who work for Lauda in Germany today can still remember this very well. The Air Berlin Group did not collapse that long ago.