The employees of the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines ended their 24-hour strike at midnight. The two unions VC and UFO said they were satisfied, but had already threatened to put “increased pressure” on employers.
The pilots of the holiday airline Discover Airlines ended their second strike in the tariff dispute with Lufthansa at midnight. The employees stopped work for 24 hours.
The pilots’ union Cockpit (VC) and the cabin union UFO called for the strike. After the strike ended, both unions said they were satisfied with how the strike went. The participation of the workforce in the cockpit and cabin was overwhelming.
VC collective bargaining officer Marcel Gröls emphasized that “no negotiable offer” had been presented by Lufthansa so far. As long as such an offer is missing, “we will have to continue to increase the pressure.” UFO negotiator Harry Jaeger described the strike as a complete success: “The cabin understands what it is worth and this realization will slowly trickle down to management.”
Only a few absences due to strikes
The comparatively small holiday airline and Lufthansa subsidiary only has 24 aircraft. Due to the strike, ten connections at Munich Airport were canceled. Lufthansa aircraft were used for this. Four of 14 takeoffs at Frankfurt am Main airport were canceled.
A first warning strike by the pilots on the day before Christmas Eve went smoothly for most passengers. Discover was able to reschedule flights to times outside the five-hour strike window.
No collective agreements yet
The VC wants to enforce the first collective agreements on salaries and general conditions at the holiday airline, which was founded two and a half years ago, and has declared negotiations with the company to have failed. In a strike vote this week, almost 96 percent of members were in favor of a strike. There is currently no collective agreement for cabin crews either. The UFO union is negotiating there.
The Lufthansa Group’s holiday airline was initially launched under the name Eurowings Discover in the Corona summer of 2021 and was later renamed Discover Airlines. The 24 aircraft so far are used at the hubs in Frankfurt and Munich on long and medium-haul routes. The Discover is intended to be cheaper than the Lufthansa core brand and to compete with other holiday airlines such as the Condor in the lucrative leisure market.