In Vienna on 08 April, Austrian services union Vida, Germany’s cabin personnel union UFO and pilots union Cockpit, together with their Swiss equivalents Kapers (cabin personnel) and Aeropers (pilots) presented a new European aviation trade union alliance called DACH (Deutschland, Austria, SCHweiz). The union leaders talk of ‘a constructive partnership’ with the German airline company Lufthansa. The goal is to prevent management at Lufthansa and its subsidiaries from juggling with legal salary differentials between countries, which then lowers staff costs and facilitates lower social benefits. One of DACH’s primary objectives is to harmonize collective agreements beyond boundaries.
Combatting big companies’ low-cost business model. Simple coincidence or not, the announcement that DACH was being set up came just a few days after Transavia Europe started operating in Munich. Like Air France, Lufthansa is relying heavily on growing it low-cost airline Eurowings and sees the arrival of Transavia as an offensive move that cannot be left unaddressed. It announced it would operate flights from Munich, which had not been part of its original strategy.
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