The airline speaks of a "signal of de-escalation" - UFO of a matter of course: Lufthansa wants to withdraw a lawsuit against the Hesse State Labor Court against the flight attendant union. This will happen on Monday, announced the airline. With the complaint filed in August, Lufthansa wanted to have the trade union status of UFO judicially reviewed.
"We want to send a signal of de-escalation and open solution spaces in a difficult, deadlocked situation," said company executive director Detlef Kayser. Personnel manager Bettina Volkens recently announced that, in the event of arbitration, the UFO would again be recognized as a trade union and thus as a competent collective bargaining partner.
However, the settlement agreed last week in the collective bargaining dispute this Wednesday has burst for the time being. Thus, the related withdrawal of the action was again in question. Although the UFO has been concluding collective agreements for cabin crew in the Lufthansa Group since 2002, its trade union status should be reviewed in court in April. Irrespective of this, Lufthansa intends to continue further personal disputes with UFO officers.
Strikes in Advent time threaten
UFO responded coolly to the announced withdrawal of the lawsuit, however. They do not want to make any provocative releases until November 28th. "Only this circumstance is the reason why we do not comment further," the union said. Because Lufthansa had proclaimed only a matter of course, which had already been communicated in a recent press conference.
After the bursting of the conciliation agreement UFO had threatened on Wednesday with indefinite strikes in the Advent and Christmas time, the group should not signal until Thursday next week, an accommodation in the collective bargaining conflict. In recent weeks, there had already been a warning strike at four Lufthansa subsidiaries and a two-day strike at the core company Lufthansa. In the latter two weeks ago, about 1,500 flights with about 200,000 passengers affected had failed.
