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A Lufthansa Airbus A321 neo lands at Frankfurt Airport.
© Arne Dedert/dpa
The second warning strike by ground staff hits Lufthansa and its passengers even harder than the first wave.
The Verdi union now believes that the time has come for a conclusion.
Frankfurt/Main - For the second time this month, a warning strike by ground staff has almost paralyzed Lufthansa operations.
The largest German airline was able to offer around ten percent of its originally planned 1,000 take-offs and landings on Tuesday, a spokesman said.
More than 100,000 passengers had to change their plans.
The Verdi union spoke of unbroken employee participation.
The warning strike was particularly noticeable at the Munich and Frankfurt hubs, but Lufthansa flights were also canceled from the boards at many other airports.
Lufthansa had warned affected passengers not to come to the airport because no rebookings were possible there.
There were also strike actions in Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart.
Flights to Lufthansa hubs were also canceled at other airports.
Verdi had already called individual groups of employees such as technicians and IT experts on a warning strike from Monday evening and also went on strike at a ground service provider in Munich.
On Tuesday morning, employees arrived at the counters, boarding gates or directly at the aircraft.
Together with a shortened notice period, the second wave of strikes has an even greater impact than the first wave almost two weeks ago, explained strike and negotiator Marvin Reschinsky.
At the beginning of February, around 900 flights were canceled.
Lufthansa had already canceled around 100 flight movements in Frankfurt on Monday.
According to the company, this is intended to ensure that the machines are back in the right place after the strike ends on Wednesday morning.
But the Frankfurt plan already contains the first cancellations for this day too.
Verdi is pushing for a conclusion
The union wants to push for a conclusion in the collective bargaining negotiations scheduled for Wednesday.
“We have now proven twice that we can strike,” Reschinsky told the German Press Agency.
“It would therefore be wise to come to a conclusion now.” From the union’s perspective, the round of negotiations in Frankfurt could certainly be extended to Thursday if a conclusion is within reach.
The trade unionist again demanded a higher offer.
Compared to the pilots, the salary increases offered so far for the ground staff were significantly too low.
The comparison made by Lufthansa HR Director Michael Niggemann that the offer corresponds to a qualification in the public service does not work.
“We don’t have any cash-strapped finances at Lufthansa.
And unlike in the public sector, employees still have a lot of catching up to do from the Corona period.”
Verdi is demanding 12.5 percent more money for its more than 20,000 employees as well as an inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros for a term of one year.
Lufthansa recently offered the bonus and around 10 percent more salary for a term of 25 months.
The first increase is scheduled to take place in December 2024.
A Lufthansa spokesman left it unclear whether the company would increase its offer on Wednesday.
dpa