After a strike vote, the pilots’ union Verband Cockpit called on its members to go on a one-day strike at the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines. Flights should therefore be canceled on Friday.
The pilots of the holiday airline Discover Airlines have been called on a one-day strike on Friday. The pilots’ union Verband Cockpit (VC) announced that work at the Lufthansa subsidiary would be stopped from Friday 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. According to media reports, this affects departures from German airports.
The union had declared the negotiations on the initial conclusion of collective agreements to have failed. In a strike vote this week, almost 96 percent of members were in favor of a strike.
Discover Airlines criticized the decision and announced that it was “currently assuming that the strike would have far-reaching effects” on flight operations and for passengers. The airline accused the VC of unilaterally declaring the negotiations to have failed at the beginning of the year and categorically rejecting further offers of talks. Regardless of these developments, the company will “immediately increase” the remuneration and working conditions of cockpit employees.
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. There is currently no collective agreement for cabin crews either. The UFO union is negotiating there.
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. However, if the strike is prolonged, flight cancellations could quickly occur.
argument with parent company Lufthansa
After the surprising warning strike in December, Lufthansa demanded an additional agreement on how to deal with each other – a so-called social partner charter. This was promptly viewed by the VC as a restriction on freedom of collective bargaining.
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 flights. 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.