Lufthansa: Ground staff are on strike on Wednesday

Lufthansa gate at the airport

Verdi had rejected a first tariff offer from Lufthansa.

(Photo: dpa)

Frankfurt The all-clear only lasted for a short time. The Frankfurt airport operator Fraport had hardly reported on orderly processes on the first big holiday weekend in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland when a strike day was announced.

Lufthansa ground staff will stop work for a day next Wednesday. The Verdi union wants to increase the pressure on the Lufthansa management with the warning strike in the ongoing wage dispute.

“In the second round of negotiations, the employees, who are exposed to enormous pressure every day, were waiting for a strong signal that could have resulted in a good result,” explained Christine Behle. The deputy Verdi chairperson is also the chief negotiator. The previous offer is not enough “in front and behind”.

The situation at airports is escalating, employees are being overburdened due to a significant shortage of staff, high inflation and a three-year wage cut are putting increasing pressure on employees. “They urgently need more money and they need relief – for themselves and for the passengers,” said Behle.

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The labor dispute, if it is not prevented by an offer from Lufthansa, is likely to cause major problems in flight operations. With the exception of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, all federal states are on summer vacation that day.

Verdi’s strike call applies to all Lufthansa locations, including airports such as Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Hamburg, Munich and Berlin. The strike is scheduled to start at 3:45 a.m. on Wednesday and end at 6 a.m. on Thursday.

Follow also on Thursday

If the approximately 20,000 Lufthansa employees on the ground participate accordingly, the handling of the aircraft will probably be severely disrupted. The consequences are likely to have an impact on Thursday. The summer holidays also begin on that day in Baden-Württemberg.

Behle asked the passengers for their understanding and pointed out the extremely problematic situation of the employees, which was mainly caused by mismanagement. We were informed early on about the warning strike so that the passengers can prepare for it and possibly reorient themselves.

After only two days of negotiations, Verdi announced a strike that could hardly be described as a warning strike due to its breadth across all locations and its duration, said Michael Niggemann, HR Director at Lufthansa: “This is all the more incomprehensible given that the employer side already has high and social balanced compensation increases, despite the continued tense economic situation for Lufthansa after the Corona crisis, high debt burdens and uncertain prospects for the global economy.” After the enormous efforts to stabilize flight operations, the strike means a renewed, considerable and unnecessary burden for the passengers and also for the employees beyond the day of the strike.

Lufthansa submitted an offer in mid-July, but Verdi rejected it as insufficient. It included fixed amounts and a result-related component with a term of 18 months. Verdi, on the other hand, demands 9.5 percent more money for a twelve-month term – also with reference to the high inflation.

Above all, the union wants to provide special care for the lower wage groups. Verdi is largely in agreement with the management of Lufthansa on this. But the Lufthansa negotiators point out that in view of the billions in debt of the Lufthansa Group, the balance must be maintained with wage increases. Both sides want to continue negotiations on August 3rd and 4th.

More: Pilots’ union apparently plans ballot vote on strike at Lufthansa.

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