German flight unions form alliance to counter airline dominance
Germany’s three aviation unions announced plans on Friday to cooperate more closely under a new alliance aimed developing a “strong common voice” on central issues affecting all groups.
The alliance, We are Aviation, brings together Agil, the aviation workers’ union responsible for ground staff, the UFO cabin crew union and Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) which represents pilots.
They said the aim was to promote close cooperation to develop “a strong common voice” on central issues affecting all groups.
“Without us, no plane takes off. It takes all three groups — cockpit, cabin and ground — for an airline’s operations to function,” said VC chief Andreas Pinheiro. This was why it was so important to move together and pool forces.
UFO chairman Joachim Vázquez Bürger added that, given the major challenges in aviation, alliances were “more important than ever”. The aim was to future-proof aviation industry developments and ensure good working conditions for all staff.
Thorsten Beißner, the head of Agil, said the cooperation is focused on industry-wide challenges that are not confined to a single occupational group.
Challenges include attempts by new airlines at circumventing collective wage agreements and fragmenting the market, respect for specialist unions and genuine social partnerships, staff shortages, rising workload and safety risks, he said, as well as defending industry standards.
A VC spokeswoman said on request that there had been exchanges with UFO on various issues in the past. The new alliance would expand this to areas where there were common concerns and similar interests. The three organizations already had goals in mind, she added.
She said it was a strategic cooperation, not a merger, and that the three specialist unions would retain their independence in collective bargaining and other issues specific to their respective associations.
