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Participants of a rally take part in a Verdi demonstration in Frankfurt.
© Ardavan Safari/dpa
Tens of thousands of disappointed passengers, hundreds of flight cancellations: the warning strike by Lufthansa ground staff has had a clear impact.
Verdi sees the high level of participation as a great success.
Frankfurt/Main - With a warning strike by ground staff, the Verdi union severely affected Lufthansa's flight operations and its passengers.
Of the more than 1,000 flights originally planned, up to 90 percent were canceled on Wednesday, the company confirmed.
According to Lufthansa, more than 100,000 passengers had to change their plans.
Verdi negotiator Marvin Reschinsky reported that around 7,000 people took part in the actions at the locations in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Berlin over the course of the day.
The turnout was higher than at the previous warning strike in 2022. Lufthansa again canceled around 30 departures from Munich and Frankfurt for Thursday morning, when the warning strike was supposed to end at 7:10 a.m.
“We should demand even more!”
At the protest meetings, technicians, counter staff and planners gave vent to their dissatisfaction with the workload and thinly staffed shifts.
A baggage investigator reported: “We have 50 percent fewer employees than before Corona, but the work has remained the same.
Actually, we should demand even more.” Quite a few compare their own cash position with the announced operating profit of around 2.6 billion euros.
“We need the increase to live on, everything has become much more expensive,” said one of the participants.
Reschinsky accuses management of treating its own people disrespectfully.
“The two-class society between flying personnel and the ground must finally be ended.”
Lufthansa human resources director Michael Niggemann faces criticism from the strikers in front of the glass Aviation Center in Frankfurt and appeals for understanding that the company urgently needs these profits for the upcoming investments in new aircraft and technology.
The employees should also get their share, the manager promises, whistling loudly.
The escalation chosen by Verdi was not necessary.
Niggemann recalls the deal 18 months ago with salary increases of up to 19 percent.
The current offer presented would bring a further 13 percent within three years.
Verdi threatens longer strikes
Verdi threatened longer strikes if the Lufthansa board did not significantly improve its previous collective bargaining offer for ground staff with around 25,000 employees.
The willingness to strike on the ground has never been so high in the past 20 years, said negotiator Reschinsky.
The warning strike sends a clear signal to the board: “We can go longer if you ask us to.”
In the collective bargaining dispute, Verdi is demanding 12.5 percent more salary, but at least 500 euros per month for a term of one year.
There will also be a group-wide inflation bonus of 3,000 euros.
Lufthansa has offered 13 percent more money and an inflation bonus for a period of three years.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled for Monday.
Other negotiations are also stalling
The Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) tried to de-escalate the situation.
“I appeal to the unions to shape the further collective bargaining rounds with a sense of proportion,” said BDL President Jost Lammers in Berlin.
“The right to strike is a very valuable and important good.
It should be the last resort.” Lammers has other employee groups in mind: Negotiations are stalling both with Lufthansa cabin crew and with the crews of the holiday flight subsidiary Discover Airlines.
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Less than half of the usual air traffic took place at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs on Wednesday, as Lufthansa is by far the largest customer at Germany's two busiest airports.
In addition to a few Lufthansa jets, foreign companies that were not on strike, smaller domestic Lufthansa competitors and the Lufthansa Group companies Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian and Brussels were able to take off.
The situation remained calm at the other airports; only connections to the Munich and Frankfurt hubs were generally canceled.
In Düsseldorf, operations started smoothly, as an airport spokesman assured.
There were no delays or long waiting times between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., when a particularly large number of planes usually take off.
dpa