Nationwide job cuts: Ryanair closes Hahn location

The corona crisis also affects Ryanair. The low-cost airline will cease operations in Frankfurt-Hahn. The saving measure costs many pilots the job. But other German locations are also affected.

The low-cost airline Ryanair wants to cut jobs after a dispute with the pilot union union cockpit (VC) over salary cuts in the corona crisis in Germany. Since the VC has narrowly rejected an agreement to do so, locations should be closed, the company said in a message to employees that Reuters had.

"The VC voted for job cuts and basic closings, but it could have secured all jobs," said HR Manager Shane Carty. It is bizarre that the union has put up a vote against the deal it has closed itself. The VC said the union executive considered the agreement inadequate. An employment promise would only last until March 2021, while a drastic drop in wages should apply until 2024.

"Must go on with savings"

All airlines have been hit hard by the pandemic collapse in air traffic and are massively cutting jobs. According to the union, more than 170 pilots are affected. Ryanair announced that the base at Hahn Airport near Frankfurt will be closed on November 1. The workers stationed there should receive layoffs this week. The bases in Berlin Tegel and Düsseldorf could also close before winter. Further cockpit employees in Frankfurt, Cologne and Berlin are to follow.

"We have to continue with alternative measures to save, which means closing bases and layoffs," said the airline to pilots in Germany. The VC had previously announced that only 49.4 percent of the pilots from Germany employed by Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air voted for the crisis agreement. The employer would only have sporadically held talks and refused renegotiations. At the same time, Ryanair is planning new hires on even worse terms.

Ryanair tricked union

Ryanair said the austerity plan needed because of the severe aviation crisis is 20 percent less salary over four years. 70 percent of the pilots in the Ryanair network had already agreed to such a rule. The airline accused the union that pilots who were no longer employed by Malta Air or who were not stationed in Germany also took part in the narrowly missed vote. Ryanair did not give a figure about the planned layoffs, but warns that there could be more in a second wave of Corona.

At the Austrian subsidiary Laudamotion, the unions of pilots and flight attendants agreed to losses after initial resistance after Ryanair had threatened to end the Vienna location with its around 300 employees. In Ireland, the company bypassed the union and persuaded the pilots to accept worse conditions. The Verdi trade union has so far not been able to agree with the Ryanair subsidiary Laudamotion in Germany. The VC meanwhile said it would not give up hope despite the tough line of the budget airline. "The employer would be well advised to get back to the negotiating table quickly now."

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