Frankfurt Lufthansa management has presented the pilots of the core brand Lufthansa Airlines and the freight subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo with a new offer in the wage conflict that has been smoldering for months. Together with the salary increases already paid in advance, the package results in a salary increase of 18.5 percent, spread over several years up to 2025, according to the group’s calculations.
A spokesman for the company confirmed the relevant information from the Handelsblatt from pilot circles. The pilot association Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) also stated that it had received a new offer. “The committees are currently bending over the offer. It’s still too early for a final assessment,” said Marcel Gröls, chairman of VC’s collective bargaining policy, to the Handelsblatt on Friday.
The package contains details of the remuneration agreement and the collective bargaining agreement that governs working conditions. Among other things, Lufthansa offers more predictable deployment and standby times.
The core of the offer is the payment. At the beginning of 2024, salaries should rise by at least five percent, and a year later by at least 3.5 percent. At least because Lufthansa is willing to increase more, the general collectively agreed wages should also increase more in the respective years.
Since the pilots already received an increase of 490 euros per month twice during the ongoing collective bargaining talks – an average salary increase of ten percent – the group’s total volume comes to a value of 18.5 percent.
According to Lufthansa, no other group of employees received such a high wage increase. A copilot (first officer) would then receive at least 5934 euros per month. With increasing professional experience, the salary would rise to 11,187 euros. A captain would start at 11,780 euros and end up at 18,837 euros. In addition, there is a shift allowance of 16.3 percent.
Whether that will be enough to resolve the collective bargaining dispute remains to be seen. Both sides only have until the end of June, when the peace obligation ends and a strike can begin. It is reported in pilot circles that young colleagues in particular are on a confrontational course. They are frustrated because they have to wait up to 17 years to be promoted to captain. A few years ago it was much faster.
The dispute is about more than just money
A labor dispute in the middle of the peak travel season would be disastrous for the company and would affect thousands of passengers. The problem: It’s about more than money. In the background, the overriding question resonates to what extent the core brand – it stands for the premium range of the group – can still grow.
According to the management around CEO Carsten Spohr, growth is only possible if the costs are competitive. However, the cockpit crews at Lufthansa Airlines have the best tariff conditions in the entire group.
Spohr has therefore founded new airlines such as Eurowings or Eurowings Discover in the past. You have taken over traffic from the core brand. Until the pandemic, a so-called perspective agreement secured the size of the Lufthansa airline. It stipulated that the fleet must have at least 325 aircraft. However, the management had unilaterally terminated the agreement during the crisis.
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This caused a lot of trouble for the cockpit crew. “You could have just talked to us during the crisis,” complains one pilot. Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr has now admitted that the termination was hasty. Therefore, the leadership offers a new agreement, but wants something in return.
Only if the costs on the feeder flights to the Frankfurt and Munich hubs can be reduced should they remain with Lufthansa Airlines. If no agreement can be reached on this point, City Airlines, a new airline, will take over the routes. The operating license for City Airlines has now been issued and the company already has its first aircraft.
The high costs of the core brand on short-haul routes are a thorn in the side of the CEO. At the same time, many billions of euros are being invested in long-haul routes.
(Photo: Reuters)
At the same time, the management would then like to merge the existing subsidiary Cityline with City Airlines. Cityline has so far flown with the short and medium-haul jets A320 and A319 from Airbus. This is regulated in the perspective agreement mentioned. If there is no follow-up agreement, Cityline would have to hand over these aircraft. That would be the end of the airline.
The management therefore sees the new airline as a fallback solution for the Cityline crews should the negotiations fail. The pilots of the core brand, on the other hand, perceive the new company as a threat and a renewed provocation.
A solution to this question is difficult, especially since the pilots disagree among themselves. Some do not want a new perspective agreement because Lufthansa is growing strongly anyway. Others worry that the talks will focus too much on issues like money. “Especially since the question is allowed as to whether our professional group should strike for the highest possible wage agreement,” said one pilot.
The echo in the public could be devastating. At the same time, the more important question of what role Lufthansa Airlines will play in the future will not be answered.
Without an agreement, strikes threaten from July
The collective bargaining commission of the VC is in a dilemma on this topic. Strategic issues such as the future size or direction of Lufthansa cannot be put on strike. The VC failed in court a few years ago. The union is correspondingly taciturn.
If no agreement is reached by the end of June, there is a threat of warning strikes. The VC carried out a ballot last year, which justifies long labor disputes. But the lawyers of the union are of the opinion that this no longer applies after such a long time, reports pilot circles. At the same time, a new ballot would probably start in July. The VC did not want to comment on the subject.
Management hopes that the pilots will not overdo the labor disputes – and has set up a hurdle. A few weeks ago, Spohr said at a staff meeting in Munich that strike costs were no longer booked in the group, but with the airline where the strikes took place: “And growth also depends on the cost position of the respective airline. I think that disciplines.”
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