Good news for cabin crew at TUI: the Court of Appeal in The Hague ruled this morning that the airline must negotiate a collective labor agreement for cabin crew with trade union FNV.
The lawsuit was filed by FNV, because TUI refused to enter into discussions with the union about a collective labor agreement for cabin crew. Salient detail: a collective labor agreement already applies to pilots employed by TUI.
The fact that the Court of Appeal rules that cabin crew are also entitled to this is what FNV Aviation director Birte Nelen calls ‘a historic victory and fantastic news for the many FNV members at TUI’.
Works Council
Until now, TUI has only made agreements with the company’s works council for the employment conditions of the cabin crew. “They (cabin crew, ed.) have wanted to be represented for years by a professional and independent trade union,” says Nelen. “This ruling gives employees direct influence on agreements about wages, working hours and other working conditions.”
FNV has already tried twice with a petition to force TUI to enter into discussions with the union about the employment conditions for cabin crew. After the company had not responded to the collection of signatures even after the second petition, the union decided to take legal action.
In 2019, TUI was discredited when FNV accused the company of deploying insufficiently trained trainees as full stewards and flight attendants. This would be done to reduce costs, but would involve risks because, for example, the trainees in question had no experience with aggressive passengers. TUI said it met all legal requirements.
The talks about the COA for cabin crew must start within a month of today. FNV will soon invite its TUI members to make an inventory of what the talks will be about. If the talks have not yet started in October, TUI is waiting for a penalty of 10,000 euros per day, with a maximum of 500,000 euros.