Balancing vs. Preservation of Rights under the Acquired Rights Directive
研究了欧洲航空业在低成本竞争和高人力成本压力下，企业削减成本与员工维护就业条件及养老金权利之间的法律冲突，以ÖGB案例说明解雇高级员工的高额补偿问题。
The formerly state-owned European aviation sector is facing severe and challenging times due to competition by low budget airlines and the state-funded airlines of the Middle East, on the one hand, and high personnel costs on the other. Airlines are attempting to survive by cutting back personnel costs, thus generating employee claims for maintenance of their employment conditions and pension rights. As the dispute in the recent ÖGB decision demonstrates, the termination of the employment contracts of senior employees often imposes high costs on aviation companies, especially where generous compensation payments, promised to the employees during the Golden Age of aviation, 1 are required on termination. This Golden Age is long gone, however, and it is difficult for companies to cut costs in a sector in which personnel expenses are a primary competitive factor. 2 It is therefore understandable not only that management will attempt to cut back these costs but also that other employees might protest against the privileges of—in the words of some Air France employees—an ‘egoistic’ 3 professional group.