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Empresas y finanzas

Austrian Airlines dealt setback by EU court ruling


    VIENNA (Reuters) - The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Thursday that collective wage agreements also apply to labor contracts after a transfer of operations, Austrian Airlines (AUA) said, in what appeared to be a setback to its cost-cutting plans.

    The ruling addressed a dispute over whether AUA, owned by Germany's Lufthansa , could unilaterally cancel a previous labor agreement when it transferred its flight operations to its lower-cost Tyrolean Airways unit in 2012.

    "The ECJ holds the opinion that the term 'working conditions stipulated in a collective wage agreement' contained in the EU Transfers of Undertakings Directive also apply to the working conditions of a collective wage agreement terminated during the transfer of operations," AUA said in an emailed statement.

    (Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Michael Shields)