Over 100,000 passengers affected as Lufthansa ground staff set to strike
Due to a 27-hour strike by ground staff, travellers with German airline Lufthansa should brace themselves for major restrictions starting Wednesday.
The trade union on Monday Verdi called on 25,000 Lufthansa employees to strike on Wednesday.
"We assume that 80 to 90 percent of the Lufthansa programme and that of its subsidiaries will be suspended," said a Verdi spokesperson in the morning.
The locations affected are Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf. Around 400 Lufthansa flights were planned on Wednesday at Munich airport alone.
The 27-hour warning strike is set to begin at 4 am on Wednesday and stretch until 7:10 am on Thursday.
The workers are demanding a 12.5-percent pay increase over 12 months as well as one-off bonuses to counter inflation, it said.
READ ALSO: Public transport to hospitals: Which strikes are coming up in Germany?
‘Completely incomprehensible’
Lufthansa said it was working on a "special flight schedule" and more than 100,000 passengers would be affected.
But it criticised the strike as "completely incomprehensible" and unnecessary before the next round of wage negotiations starts on February 12th.
The airline said in a statement it had offered workers increases totalling more than 13 percent over the next three years, as well as the "prompt payment of significant inflation bonuses".
But the union said it deemed the offer "totally unacceptable".
"Lufthansa employees already have around 10 percent less in their pockets than three years ago. Despite record profits, this situation is set to worsen," said Marvin Reschinsky, Verdi's chief negotiator in wage talks for ground staff.
Better working conditions for staff are also necessary to provide better service to passengers, he added.
The strike comes as Germany faces a growing wave of social unrest in the transport sector.
Pilots with German airline Discover, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, were staging a 48-hour strike until the end of Monday.
Last week, airport security staff and public transport workers across Germany walked off the job.
And two weeks ago, train drivers staged a five-day walkout, their longest ever and the fourth time they have gone on strike since November.
Comments
See Also
The trade union on Monday Verdi called on 25,000 Lufthansa employees to strike on Wednesday.
"We assume that 80 to 90 percent of the Lufthansa programme and that of its subsidiaries will be suspended," said a Verdi spokesperson in the morning.
The locations affected are Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf. Around 400 Lufthansa flights were planned on Wednesday at Munich airport alone.
The 27-hour warning strike is set to begin at 4 am on Wednesday and stretch until 7:10 am on Thursday.
The workers are demanding a 12.5-percent pay increase over 12 months as well as one-off bonuses to counter inflation, it said.
READ ALSO: Public transport to hospitals: Which strikes are coming up in Germany?
‘Completely incomprehensible’
Lufthansa said it was working on a "special flight schedule" and more than 100,000 passengers would be affected.
But it criticised the strike as "completely incomprehensible" and unnecessary before the next round of wage negotiations starts on February 12th.
The airline said in a statement it had offered workers increases totalling more than 13 percent over the next three years, as well as the "prompt payment of significant inflation bonuses".
But the union said it deemed the offer "totally unacceptable".
"Lufthansa employees already have around 10 percent less in their pockets than three years ago. Despite record profits, this situation is set to worsen," said Marvin Reschinsky, Verdi's chief negotiator in wage talks for ground staff.
Better working conditions for staff are also necessary to provide better service to passengers, he added.
The strike comes as Germany faces a growing wave of social unrest in the transport sector.
Pilots with German airline Discover, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, were staging a 48-hour strike until the end of Monday.
Last week, airport security staff and public transport workers across Germany walked off the job.
And two weeks ago, train drivers staged a five-day walkout, their longest ever and the fourth time they have gone on strike since November.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.