The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld a question posed by the Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) pertaining to the after-effects of the Austrian Airlines collective wage agreement for flight personnel terminated in the year 2012. The ECJ holds the opinion that the term “working conditions stipulated in a collective wage agreement” contained in the EU Transfers of Undertakings Directive also apply to the working conditions of a collective wage agreement terminated during the transfer of operations.
The ECJ upheld the views of the advocate general on the relation of the after-effects of the Austrian Airlines collective wage agreement to the after-effects of the collective wage agreement for the Tyrolean flight personnel which was terminated by the trade union.
The validity of the transfer of flight operations to Tyrolean is being assessed within the context of other legal proceedings at the Vienna Labor and Social Affairs Court, which has been postponed until the ECJ ruling. Austrian Airlines now expects the court proceedings to be resumed and it maintains its standpoint that the transfer of flight operations to Tyrolean was lawful.