Ver.di wants almost ten percent more money for Lufthansa ground staff

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Empty Lufthansa counters: Ver.di accuses the airline of "dramatic staff cuts on the ground".

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Offenberg / IMAGO

The steelmakers won 6.5 percent more wages, employees in the electrical and metal industries demand between seven and eight percent more salary - and for the around 20,000 Lufthansa employees on the ground, Ver.di is now demanding almost ten percent more salary.

The union wants to achieve a salary increase of 9.5 percent, but at least 350 euros, for employees at Lufthansa AG Boden, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Systems, Lufthansa Technik Logistikdienstleistungen, Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Service Gesellschaft - for a twelve-month period.

The group collective bargaining commission decided that, the union announced in Berlin.

According to a Ver.di spokeswoman, the collective agreements expire on June 30th.

After three years of wage cuts to stabilize the company in the corona pandemic, the employees were hit particularly hard by the high inflation, said negotiator Christine Behle.

"That's why it's now important to keep employees at Lufthansa with significant wage increases and to attract new employees with attractive salaries." The first round of negotiations with Lufthansa is scheduled to take place on June 30 in Frankfurt.

Minimum wage of 13 euros required

A Lufthansa spokesman said that the situation of the company must also be considered.

This had to pay off high debts and the high price of kerosene and the ongoing war in Ukraine meant economic risks.

"Against this background, it is difficult to understand the amount and term of the claim."

Ver.di argued that the enormous workload of the employees also justified a significant wage increase.

This could make it easier to find urgently needed additional staff.

A study by the German Economic Institute (IW) identified a gap of around 7,200 skilled workers in aviation in Germany this week.

At the same time, there are "no longer any reserves on the labor market" to fill these vacancies for air and ground personnel - there is a particular lack of personnel on the ground.

With its “drastic staff cuts on the ground” during the crisis, Lufthansa made sure that traffic could no longer be maintained properly when air traffic was ramped up, criticized trade unionist Behle.

Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings recently canceled hundreds of flights for July due to a lack of staff in-house and at ground and airport service providers.

In addition to the demand for 9.5 percent more money, Ver.di wants to achieve an hourly wage of at least 13 euros for the employee groups.

With the planned increase in the statutory minimum wage to twelve euros, there must be a collective bargaining gap, it said.

Several retail chains had recently even announced that they wanted to pay at least 14 euros.

Apr/dpa/Reuters