Air traffic: staff criticize the Lufthansa crisis management

Lufthansa staff representatives have heavily criticized the board’s crisis management.

“Instead of seeing the crisis in the entire aviation industry as an opportunity to join forces to find a common path through the pandemic, the Group Board of Management obviously saw it as an opportunity to reduce long-term wage and operational (cost) structures,” says a letter to the members of the Supervisory Board, which is meeting on Wednesday.

The analysis of the situation by the staff representatives is devastating. Lufthansa is gambling away its good reputation and losing long-standing guests, according to the letter that the dpa has received. In many areas there is a lack of staff, the colleagues are at the physical and mental stress limit. The employee representatives accuse the board of management of not having changed course quickly enough. “The threats of dismissal were held on for far too long in order to achieve the desired concessions, and as a result moved away from it far too late.”

Workers complain about the payment of newcomers

Employees are also pessimistic about recruiting new staff: “The working conditions in many areas are such that we lack applicants. In some companies, remuneration starts below the minimum wage requirements that are now to come.” The signatories from many parts of the company called on the supervisory boards to work towards constructive and positive personnel management.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 11.3 percent fewer people were employed in air passenger transport in Germany in April 2022 than three years earlier. That was the lowest value in the time series that began in 2015.