Lufthansa strike: The pilots decided on the second strike

The collective bargaining conflict at Lufthansa is coming to a head. / Lufthansa strike

The pilots want to strike again from Wednesday – this time for two days. The Cockpit union said it was willing to negotiate if there was a “serious” offer.

Another strike by the pilots is imminent at Lufthansa. The union Vereinigung Cockpit is calling for further walkouts on Wednesday and Thursday. The company “let the time pass uselessly” and did not submit an offer, according to a statement by the Cockpit Association. Accordingly, the departures of Lufthansa passenger planes from Germany are to be struck on Wednesday and Thursday. At the freight subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo, the strike is only planned for Wednesday.

“In order to leave no stone unturned in this situation, we have nevertheless offered a negotiation date for Tuesday,” explains cockpit spokesman Matthias Baier in the statement. However, the strike could only be averted by a “serious offer from the company”.

During the first wave of strikes last Friday, Lufthansa canceled the entire program of its core airline. More than 800 flights with 130,000 affected passengers were canceled and the company said it suffered economic damage of 32 million euros.

For legal reasons, Cockpit can only call workers in Germany to industrial action. Therefore, only the departures of the Lufthansa core company and Lufthansa Cargo from German airports are being struck. The subsidiaries Eurowings, Lufthansa Cityline and Eurowings Discover are not affected by the industrial action.

Cockpit changes demand for inflation compensation / Lufthansa strike

Before the Munich Labor Court, the union changed its collective bargaining claim in one detail. Because the judges also expressed legal concerns about automatic inflation compensation from next year, a “flat-rate” inflation compensation of 8.2 percent is now being demanded. In the current year, salaries are expected to rise by 5.5 percent. There would also be a new salary table and more money for sick days, holidays and training.

Lufthansa: additional costs of 900 billion euros

According to Lufthansa, the combined demands would increase the personnel costs for the pilots by 40 percent. This is beyond reasonable, even without considering the financial consequences of the Corona crisis. Over a period of two years, that would mean an additional burden of 900 million euros, according to Lufthansa.

It was only in July that the ver.di trade union almost paralyzed flight operations at Germany’s largest airline for a whole day with a warning strike by ground staff. The flight attendants’ union Ufo wants to negotiate for its members in the fall. It declared its “express and unreserved solidarity” with the pilots’ strike.

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