Dear colleagues!
UFO was founded more than 27 years ago because back then flight attendants in Germany could only receive support from traditional large unions for either “service staff” or employees of transport companies. Two of these major unions (DAG and ÖTV) were later fused into today´s ver.di.

From the very beginning UFO wanted to focus independently of these bigger, influential unions on the specific needs of flight attentands in todays´ industry; the name Unabhängige (= independent) Flugbegleiter Organisation derives from this self-esteem.

Today we would like to provide you with some general information we had originally collected for our colleagues in Ryanair. UFO tries to extend it´s representation into all airlines based in Germany – because we are convinced that for a real progress in improving the work conditions of flight attendants we need to collaborate throughout all airlines and all ranks within a single airline, no matter how specific the individual needs of one group of employees might be – we do believe in the motto “Together we stand, devided we fall”. Especially within the Lufthansa-Group this element of collaboration has proven to be quite successful. By now, thousands of flight attendants in almost all German airlines are UFO members! UFO has thus become the “Voice of the cabin” over the years.

Since more and more legislation regarding our work conditions takes place in the European parliament, we also remain in a continuous exchange with airline-unions in our neighboring countries.  
As for our German airlines like Condor, Lufthansa, Lufthansa CityLine, Germanwings, Eurowings, SunExpress and others our actual union work operates in the following constitutional framework:

• In each represented German airline a bargaining commission is elected among UFO-members and enters into concrete negotiations about work-conditions, pension schemes and salaries with the respective management (for example the UFO-LH-Tarifkommission).
• For elections of the „Staff Representatives” in an airline (in Lufthansa called “PV”) UFO supports UFO-members as candidates in every PV-election. Note: The “PV” does not negotiate the bigger frameworks of collective contracts mentioned above, but it does play a very important role in monitoring that all contracts are being realized correctly. Therefore, UFO believes in an extensive exchange and true synergies between the “PV” and the “Tarifkommission” 

In both our understanding and in a commonly shared view in German society a union does not harm a company but helps the company in establishing socially well-balanced solutions! Many other big carriers like KLM our Air France have similar collective agreements and a similar history of recognized partnership of the airliner union and the management.

 

Curious? This means UFO for you:

• Learn together with UFO about your right as an employee in Germany!
• Enjoy free legal advice within UFO!
• Improve your workplace together with UFO staff representatives and members of the UFO-LH bargaining committee!
•  Have a vote in Brussels and Berlin as flight attendant together with UFO!
• Get support for the German tax declarations

Would you like to know more about us and our work? So feel free to contact us by mail or speak to UFO-representatives you already know.

Regards,

your UFO-colleagues