breaking news
Air travelers do not have to fear further strikes by Lufthansa ground staff. After arbitration, the company and the ver.di union agreed on the basic principles of a new collective agreement.
After arbitration, Lufthansa and the ver.di union agreed on the basic principles of a collective agreement for the approximately 25,000 ground staff employees. Both sides announced this in Frankfurt am Main. After five warning strikes, the industrial dispute ends.
Threatened strikes over the Easter holidays have been averted. Details of the agreement are expected to be published tomorrow.
“We are very satisfied with the outcome of the arbitration,” said ver.di negotiator Marvin Reschinsky. Michael Niggemann, Lufthansa’s human resources director, said they were also very satisfied. “But there are major investments ahead of us.” The agreed salary increases resulted in additional costs.
The talks led by the mediators Bodo Ramelow (Left Party, Prime Minister of Thuringia) and Frank-Jürgen Weise (former head of the Federal Employment Agency) lasted three days, as Lufthansa and ver.di announced. Negotiations took place behind closed doors in a hotel at Frankfurt Airport.
“There they are flying again, the cranes,” posted Ramelow on his X account – with photos of Lufthansa planes taking off.
The term and salary level were controversial
The employees had stopped work several times in recent weeks to put the company under pressure. The majority of Lufthansa flights were canceled, meaning around 100,000 travelers had to change their plans each time.
Ver.di had demanded 12.5 percent more money for the approximately 25,000 Lufthansa ground services employees over a term of one year, while the company had offered ten percent – over a term of 28 months.
There have also recently been industrial disputes among Lufthansa flight attendants, who are represented by the UFO branch union. Arbitration has also been agreed for the approximately 25,000 private aviation security personnel in the week after Easter. It is scheduled to begin on April 5th under the leadership of the former Bremen Finance State Councilor Hans-Henning Lühr (SPD).