Germany : with ‘Lex Ryanair’ as a backdrop, Sun Express agrees to set up a works council (in brief)

A draft amendment by the Labor Minister aimed at facilitating the setting up of a works council in the airline sector and commonly called ‘Lex Ryanair’ (c.f. article No. 10897) looks to be producing results, even before it has been finally adopted. On 29 November, airline company Sun Express Deutschland (SXD) that is jointly held by Deutsche Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, confirmed it would commence negotiations with Ufo, the trade union representing its flight crews, as well as with Vereinigung cockpit (VP), the trade union representing its pilot staff, before the end of 2018, with the goal of signing a collective agreement that intends for the establishment of a works council. Until now the company had opposed such a move and indeed during the summer of 2018 had turned to the courts to obstruct the election of a works council (WC). The company recalled that with article 117 of the ‘law on the internal constitution of a company’ setting up a WC in the airline sector required the prior signature of a collective agreement by the employer, and as such the ruling handed down was in the company’s favor. However according to both trade unions (Ufo and VP), the new legislation that is set to be adopted puts an end to this sector-specific measure, and Sun Express appears to have changed its opinion as a result. “The Sun Express case shows that government’s efforts to cement staff co-management rights into legislation are bearing fruit and also shows that the new rule will not be a ‘Lex Ryanair’,” stated Markus Germann, collective bargaining expert within the VP pilots trade union.