As of: February 19, 2024, 6:14 a.m
By: Patrick Huljina
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The Verdi union has called on Lufthansa ground staff to go on a warning strike starting Tuesday morning.
Several locations are affected.
Update from February 18th, 2:55 p.m.:
According to the airline, the planned warning strike by Lufthansa ground staff from Tuesday morning will affect more than 100,000 passengers.
Lufthansa says it is currently working on a special flight plan that will be published soon.
The further warning strike will once again place a disproportionate burden on both passengers and employees, said Lufthansa Human Resources Director Michael Niggemann on Sunday.
“This is not the way to fulfill our shared responsibility for our employees, for our guests, for a strong and reliable Lufthansa.” This is particularly bitter because the next round of negotiations is already taking place on Wednesday and Lufthansa has presented a far-reaching offer.
Airport chaos threatens: Verdi calls on Lufthansa ground staff to go on strike
First report from February 18th:
Munich - The Verdi service union has called on Lufthansa ground staff to go on a warning strike from Tuesday.
The Lufthansa locations Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart are affected in the passenger area from 4 a.m. onwards.
The strike will end on Wednesday at 7:10 a.m., Verdi announced in Berlin on Sunday.
So there is a risk of chaos at the airports again.
Since all ground workers from maintenance to passenger and aircraft handling are called on a warning strike, there will likely be major flight cancellations and delays, according to Verdi.
According to the information, different times apply for areas not close to passengers, such as freight or technology.
At the beginning of February, a 27-hour strike had largely paralyzed flight operations at the Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.
Around 900 of 1,000 planned flights were canceled.
According to Lufthansa, around 100,000 passengers were affected at the time.
Recently, a strike at the Lufthansa subsidiary “Discover” also caused a stir.
Warning strike at Lufthansa: “Ground workers feel insulted”
The background to the strike is the ongoing collective bargaining for the approximately 25,000 ground employees in group companies such as Deutsche Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Cargo.
The collective bargaining partners were also unable to reach an agreement in the third round of negotiations on February 12th.
The union explained that the employers' offer had been widely discussed among the workforce in recent days.
96 percent of employees rejected it.
Among other things, the significantly lower increases for ground workers compared to other professional groups in the group were criticized.
“The ground workers feel offended once again,” explained Verdi negotiator Marvin Reschinsky about Lufthansa’s current offer.
The Verdi union has called on Lufthansa ground staff to go on a warning strike starting Tuesday morning.
(Symbolic image) © Sven Hoppe/dpa
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While the group gives its pilots with annual basic incomes of up to 270,000 euros high double-digit pay increases, the ground workers with starting hourly wages of sometimes 13 euros should not even be compensated for the price increases of the last few years.
This is “blatantly anti-social”.
Escalation of the conflict between Verdi and Lufthansa: next round of negotiations on Wednesday
Reschinsky regretted the further escalation of the conflict: “We do not want this escalation.
We want a quick result for employees and passengers.” Management should have come to their senses after the last strike last Wednesday at the latest.
The Verdi negotiator accused the Lufthansa management of not being prepared to “negotiate about more than their only offer” at the last negotiation date.
With reference to Lufthansa's record profits and the intensification of work, the union is demanding 12.5 percent more salary for employees, but at least 500 euros per month.
For a term of twelve months, a group-wide inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros is also required.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled for Wednesday.
(ph/afp/dpa)