BERLIN (Reuters) - Eurowings has agreed the key points of a collective labor deal for pilots and cabin crew at its Austria-based unit with union Vida, the budget carrier said.
Lufthansa (DE:LHAG) has been expanding its Eurowings business via the Austrian unit, known as Eurowings Europe, for which there was no collective agreement in place, although it has been in talks with the union for around 18 months.
However, with the carrier seeking to hire more flight crew to add more flights and fill the gap left by collapsed domestic rival Air Berlin, it late last year agreed a new collective deal with its German unit to allow expansion. [nL8N1OK1HA]
Eurowings did not provide details of the deal with Vida on Wednesday. The union told an Austrian paper that cabin crew would get a starting salary of 1,700 euros ($2,071) a month, up from under 1,500 euros previously.
"We have agreed on substantial pay increases for crew - making it the perfect time to apply for a job with us," Eurowings personnel head Joerg Beissel said.
($1 = 0.8207 euros)