Possible Delay at Vienna Airport due to Works Meeting of Security Personnel
The security staff at Vienna Airport has announced a works meeting for Tuesday starting at 9:00 am. The works council and the union are thus emphasizing their demand for higher wages. Walter Burianek, head of the works council, expects a high turnout, and passenger handling is likely to come to a standstill.
Passenger handling is expected to stall next Tuesday, with security staff holding a staff meeting from 09:00. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Arne Müseler / www.arne-mueseler.com / CC BY-SA 3.0 DE (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)
At Vienna Airport, the security staff is rehearsing the uprising. Tuesday next week at nine o'clock in the morning, a works meeting will begin at the airport subsidiary Vienna International Airport Security Services (VIAS). Walter Burianek, head of the works council, expects a high turnout of 600 to 800 people. VIAS currently employs 950 people who carry out security checks on passengers and hand luggage around the clock. The works meeting is expected to have a major impact on passenger handling. This was reported by the Austrian newspaper "Kurier" in its online edition.
According to the vida trade union, the reason for the move is the "starvation wages" received by security staff. The entry-level hourly wage is currently 9.94 euros gross, with a 40-hour week resulting in a monthly gross wage of 1,722 euros, with the wage rising to 11.40 euros gross per hour up to the 16th year of service, as reported by ORF.
"We demand an alignment of the wage level with that at German airports," Vida trade unionist Daniel Liebhart told the Kurier, "In the neighboring country, the wages for airport control officers will be harmonized to an hourly wage of 20.60 euros gross by April 2023. This corresponds to a doubling of the Austrian hourly wage."
According to Kurier, Vienna Airport was surprised by the move by the works council and the union. "The saber-rattling celebrated here by the union on the backs of passengers is completely unnecessary from the airport's point of view," said airport spokesman Peter Kleemann. The current remuneration system had been decided jointly with the union and the works council, and vida had expressly welcomed the result in the summer of 2022.
The hourly wage, including bonuses and a monthly bonus, currently averages 13.45 euros gross, Kleemann said, according to the Kurier. In addition, there would be an annual profit-sharing bonus of around 500 euros. As of January 2023, a 5.6 percent increase in the collective wage agreement that has already been decided will also come into effect. A further wage increase is planned for May 2023, negotiations for which have not yet begun, the airport spokesman said according to the Kurier.