In the tariff conflict with Lufthansa, the pilots want to go on strike again from Wednesday – unless the airline submits a higher offer. “Despite announcements to the contrary, Lufthansa has not approached us to date and has not submitted a new offer either,” announced the union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC)..
In order to increase the pressure on the employer, the union is planning a two-day strike at the passenger airline and a three-day strike at the freight subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo from Wednesday. “In order to leave no stone unturned in this situation, we have nevertheless offered a negotiation date for Tuesday,” writes VC. However, it must be clear that the announced strike can only be averted if the company makes a serious offer. The union insists on real wage protection in times of high inflation and improvements in the remuneration structure.
Lufthansa is ready to talk and has now announced an improved tariff offer for the pilots who are willing to go on strike. The company announced that this would be submitted on Tuesday. Negotiations are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. A decision must be made by 12 p.m. at the latest as to whether flights will be canceled for the threatened strike days from Wednesday. This is necessary both for aircraft and crew scheduling and for at least a minimal lead time for the passengers concerned.
In a first reaction, a Lufthansa spokesman said: “We very much regret that the union is continuing on the path of escalation.” According to the recent strike call, the departures of Lufthansa passenger planes from Germany are to be on strike on Wednesday and Thursday. At the freight subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo, the walkout is planned from Wednesday to Friday. “We would have wished for it differently,” explained Marcel Gröls, chairman of collective bargaining policy at VC, “but unfortunately the forces of inertia at Lufthansa are considerable. It is now important that the parties find each other quickly and with the necessary seriousness at the negotiating table.”
The first strike in the deadlocked conflict over salary increases for the more than 5,000 cockpit employees at the core airline Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo thwarted the travel plans of around 130,000 passengers last Friday with around 800 flight cancellations, the company says it suffered economic damage of 32 million Euro. The resignation of the well-paid aircraft pilots met with little understanding among Lufthansa customers. The airline had failed in its attempt to stop the strike in summary proceedings before the labor court.
For legal reasons, the VC can only call on employees in Germany to take industrial action. Therefore, only the departures of the Lufthansa core company and Lufthansa Cargo from German airports are being struck. The subsidiaries Lufthansa Cityline, Eurowings and Eurowings Discover are not affected by the industrial action.
Concerns about automated inflation compensation
Before the Munich Labor Court, VC changed one detail of its collective bargaining claim. 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.
In response to the strike, Lufthansa published the list of 16 VC demands. The personnel costs in the cockpit would thus increase by 40 percent or around 900 million euros over the next two years. This is beyond reasonable, even without considering the financial consequences of the Corona crisis.
Lufthansa put the offer, which VC had rejected, at 900 euros more basic remuneration per month for a period of 18 months. The starting salaries rose by more than 18 percent, the top salary group would get five percent more. Pilot salaries currently range from 69,000 euros a year for juniors to 275,000 euros for top salaries.
It was only in July that the Verdi union almost paralyzed the flight operations of 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.
Lufthansa boss does not want to “let down” employees and hire 20,000 new ones
With a view to the ongoing dispute with the pilots’ union, Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr swore “in the interests of everyone to work together without the numerous collective bargaining conflicts”. In times of increased inflation, the Management Board believes that a significant increase in remuneration is absolutely appropriate, especially in the lower remuneration brackets. As with the agreement with the Verdi union for the ground staff, the airline has therefore also offered the pilots higher salary increases in the lower wage groups. In the past, the costs were reduced by lowering the starting salaries, which must now be corrected. “We did not leave our employees alone in the pandemic. And we will not leave them alone in the inflation.”
Despite all the strikes, Lufthansa is making good profits. Thanks to the recovery in aviation from the Corona crisis, the group is planning a massive increase in personnel. “We will hire almost 20,000 employees by the end of next year, which means roughly 1,000 employees per month,” said Spohr. These are 12,000 brand new employees and around 8,000 who are to be hired to replace employees who are leaving.
In the pandemic crisis, which paralyzed air traffic worldwide for a long time, Lufthansa had shrunk from almost 140,000 to around 100,000 employees. In some places too many staff had been cut, which led to general problems in the course of operations this summer due to a lack of staff. But the situation stabilized after the “dark hours in July,” said Spohr, even if the punctuality rate of only two-thirds of the flights was still unacceptable.