Ver.di announced on 18 March the successful conclusion to collective bargaining negotiations about co-determination for European Air Transport (EAT) flight deck crew in DHL’s Leipzig operation.
The agreement is closely based on the works council constitution act which covers other EAT workers. In the case of the pilots, collective bargaining negotiation was necessary as, under German law, flight deck crew are among staff excluded from the relevant co-determination legislation.
In a message to the ITF, ver.di said: “These were drawn-out and difficult negotiations and we are very pleased that we achieved our goal of getting agreement that was as close as possible to the works council constitution act.”
The agreement on cockpit representation will constitute the future basis of collective representation of EAT pilots. Once it is enacted on 8 April, preparations will start to elect three worker representatives.
Ingo Marowsky, ITF global head – supply chain and logistics, welcomed the news. He commented: “We congratulate ver.di on this successful outcome, which is clearly the result of their competence and persistence. It’s great, too, to see a positive story concerning DHL’s relationship with unions.”
