Deutsche Lufthansa AG faces more travel disruption tomorrow after its main pilot union called for a one-day strike following the collapse of wage talks.
(Bloomberg) — Deutsche Lufthansa AG faces more travel disruption tomorrow after its main pilot union called for a one-day strike following the collapse of wage talks.
Flights at German airports both for its passenger and cargo operations will be affected on Sept. 2, Lufthansa said. At this point, the carrier said it’s unable to provide more specific information on the impact of the walkouts.
A quicker-than-expected recovery in air travel has clashed with a shortage of staff at airlines and airports after deep cuts during the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s brought a summer of chaos for the industry, with Lufthansa and other carriers canceling thousands of flights. Meanwhile, soaring inflation is triggering a wave of industrial action.
Lufthansa said it has “absolutely no understanding” for the decision to strike, after making what it called “a very good and socially balanced offer.” According to the airline, giving in to pilot demands would increase payroll costs by more than 40%.
“We want solutions at the negotiating table,” Lufthansa Personnel Chief Michael Niggemann said in a statement, adding that what the company has tabled is “a good basis for continuing talks.”
Conversely, the VC Pilot Union demanded the airline present a “significantly improved offer.”
“We’re too far apart at the moment,” Marcel Groels, head of collective bargaining at the VC pilots’ union, said in a release.
Lufthansa said the union’s demand would increase cockpit personnel costs of 2.2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) by more about 900 million euros over the next two years.
The airline last month said it sealed a wage deal with the Verdi labor union that represented 20,000 of its ground crew. Pay increases ranged from 13.6% to 18.6% after a warning strike led to hundreds of cancellations at the carrier’s Munich and Frankfurt hubs.
Pilots at Lufthansa’s Eurowings discount carrier on Thursday voted in favor of possible strike action to push the airline for a deal on wages, flight-duty hours and rest periods. The Eurowings ballot is not a decision to strike, but a warning to the carrier to reach a solution, the VC union said.
(Updates with comment on impact in second paragraph.)
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