The pilots and flight attendants of the holiday airline Discover Airlines have been called on a one-day strike on Friday. The pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) and the cabin union UFO announced that work at the Lufthansa subsidiary would be stopped from Friday 00:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. The employer is stalling the union “endlessly” in the negotiations about the initial conclusion of collective agreements, the VC explained. The employees could hardly make a living from the inadequate pay, UFO criticized.
The airline criticized the “unnecessary escalation” of the two unions. According to Discover, 20 flights were planned from Frankfurt and ten from Munich, which were to be handled for Lufthansa. The airline is creating a replacement flight plan for this Friday due to the planned strike by its flight staff. There are around 30 flights planned during the strike period, as a spokeswoman for the Lufthansa subsidiary in Frankfurt reported. The aim is to get as many passengers as possible to their destination. 20 flights were originally supposed to take off from Frankfurt, and Discover was supposed to fly another ten in Munich on behalf of its mother
Discover offers long-haul flights and flights in Europe with a fleet of 24 aircraft from Frankfurt and Munich. It’s about collective agreements for around 400 pilots and around 1,200 cabin employees. The pilots’ union declared the negotiations over the initial conclusion of collective agreements in January to have failed.
In a strike vote this week, almost 96 percent of members were in favor of a strike. The company explained that there had been further offers of talks to the VC collective bargaining committee, most recently on Wednesday. The union categorically rejected this. Discover wants to increase the salaries of around 400 Cockpit employees soon, regardless of the collective bargaining dispute. UFO negotiator Harry Jäger explained that the union has been trying to enter into collective bargaining for a good two years, but has been consistently rebuffed. According to Discover, UFO was also offered an interview. “A solution can only be found at the negotiating table,” demanded the employer. “The sooner the employer shows a serious willingness to reach an agreement, the sooner we can put the collective bargaining dispute back where it belongs – at the collective bargaining table,” said VC collective bargaining boss Marcel Gröls.
The Lufthansa Group’s holiday airline was initially launched in the Corona summer of 2021 under the name “Eurowings Discover” and was later renamed “Discover Airlines”. Discover is intended to be cheaper than the Lufthansa core brand and to compete with holiday airlines such as Condor in the lucrative leisure market.