Germany: call for strike at Lufthansa on Tuesday

The conflict with airline staff in Germany still shows no signs of resolution. Although the conflict has dragged on for weeks, it is Lufthansa ground staff who are called upon to go on strike at Germany’s main airports on Tuesday. Target ? Get management to raise your salary to compensate for inflation.

The Verdi union is calling for strikes from 4am Tuesday to 7.10am Wednesday at the airports of Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart. According to the union, which represents nearly 25,000 employees, “flight cancellations and significant delays are likely to occur.”

The previous strike in early February was very successful, resulting in the cancellation of almost 90% of the flights originally planned by the group. The announcement comes after a third round of price negotiations between Lufthansa management and employee representatives failed.

Increase in salaries by 12.5%.

Verdi is demanding a salary increase of 12.5%, with a minimum of €500 added immediately to the monthly payroll, as well as a bonus to compensate for inflation of €3,000. The goal is to offset inflation of recent years in Germany, which reached 5.9% last year after 6.9% in 2022.

The company, for its part, is proposing a 4% increase in December, followed by a 5.5% increase in February 2025. For Verdi this is too little. “Even though the group is giving its pilots double-digit raises, the ground crew isn’t even compensated for inflation,” complains Marvin Reschinsky, who negotiates on behalf of the union.

Last August, Lufthansa pilots won a total pay rise of more than 17%, ending a months-long price dispute with management.

Pilots at Discover, the group’s leisure subsidiary, are also on strike this weekend and until Monday over the introduction of pay scales and rules on flying and rest periods.