At North Rhine-Westphalian airports on Sunday morning, the announced warning strike of the cabin union Ufo has begun. The flight attendants of the Lufthansa subsidiaries Eurowings, Germanwings, Lufthansa Cityline and Sunexpress are leaving their work at several German airports not only as originally scheduled from 5:00 to 11:00 am, but until midnight.
At the airport Dusseldorf so far four compounds of the airline Eurowings have been deleted, said a spokesman for the airport early Sunday morning. "There will certainly be more to come." 240 Eurowings flights are planned throughout the day in Dusseldorf.
Also at the airport Cologne-Bonn already some connections fell out, as a speaker announced. But it was quiet, because the passengers would have informed in time.
At the airport Munich so far "about ten connections" were canceled, said a speaker of the airport in the morning. "That's for example a Eurowings flight to Berlin." Higher impact on the operation of the warning strike have not yet. This could change during the course of Sunday. "So far, the best airlines are catching up with unorganized personnel - you'll see what the day brings."
Lufthansa threatens employment consequences
At Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt am Main there was no impairment in the early morning. "So far, we still feel nothing of the warning strike," said a spokeswoman.
Behind the labor dispute is a deep rift between Ufo and the Lufthansa Group. According to Ufo, it is about salary increases, occupational pensions and part-time arrangements at the Lufthansa subsidiaries. However, the company no longer recognizes the Ufo Executive Board as having the right to represent itself after significant management disputes and wants to have the union deny the collective bargaining power in court. Long-standing UFO chairman Nicoley Baublies was even dismissed from the Lufthansa service. The Ufo strikes Lufthansa in this logic as unlawful and has threatened participants with labor law consequences.
"Unfortunately, such an approach does not suggest that an agreement can be reached on our claims," added Flohr. Ufo therefore considers the extension as necessary and must assume a long history of massive strikes. Out-of-pocket stays with the parent company Lufthansa are also possible at any time. There, Ufo had canceled a warning strike originally planned for Sunday.