Cargolux Airlines has reached a consensus with Luxembourg’s OGBL union on the main points of a new collective work agreement.
The carrier says the agreement is effective for three years from October 2015 and the declaration of intent was signed on 24 July. It represents a breakthrough in the negotiations, which have run since September 2014.
Both parties intend to finalise the details and final text of the collective work agreement with the aim of signing it on 16 September.
Cargolux says as part of the agreement, the number of aircraft at Cargolux Italia will be capped and it will implement the new European flight time limitations to increase flexibility and productivity.
The carrier will also offer significantly more part-time contracts; newly hired pilots will have more available duty days; new pay scales will apply for new crews and ground staff; the 13th month salary will be fully paid after five years of service; and there will be harmonised travel and hotel policy across ground and flight crews.
The company will also introduce a new profit share system to increase employee participation and introduce an enhanced fidelity premium package.
Cargolux says the agreement means an improvement in the flexibility and economic efficiency of the carrier and increases competitiveness of Luxembourg as a logistics hub in Europe.
Cargolux president and chief executive officer, Dirk Reich, says: “It will not only strengthen Cargolux’s position as a leader of the airfreight industry, it will also secure present and future jobs in Cargolux and will give our customers the certainty that Cargolux shall be a very reliable, flexible and highly competitive airfreight partner in the next decade, well positioned to outperform intensive global competition.”
The European cargo carrier says it also remains in dispute with the LCGB pilots union, whose Cargolux members called a 24-hour walk out that begun in the early hours of Thursday, 23 July.
Despite the industrial action, Cargolux says 73 per cent of its pilots reported to work and 76 per cent of the flights were operated as normal.
