The Lufthansa holiday airline Discover operated for more than two years without collective agreements for its staff. The pilots’ union Cockpit Association now wants to put an end to this.
The pilots at the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines are on strike this Friday (January 26th). A 24-hour strike is planned, according to a membership circular from the Cockpit union (VC) on Wednesday, which is available to the dpa. Discover Airlines criticized the decision and announced in the evening that it was “currently assuming that the strike would have far-reaching effects” on flight operations and for passengers. A replacement flight plan is being drawn up. The priority is to “get as many travelers as possible to their destination”.
In a ballot, almost 96 percent of VC members voted for industrial action. The VC wants to enforce the first collective agreements on salaries and general conditions at the holiday airline, which was founded two and a half years ago, and has declared negotiations with the company to have failed. There is currently no collective agreement for cabin crews either. The UFO union is negotiating there.
Discover Airlines accused the VC of unilaterally declaring the negotiations to have failed at the beginning of the year. VC categorically rejected an offer made this Wednesday and called a strike in response. Regardless of these developments, the company will “immediately increase” the remuneration and working conditions of cockpit employees.
Social partner charter required
Until the first warning strike call shortly before Christmas, the Lufthansa subsidiary continued, “we were in very good, advanced discussions with the VC and were on the home stretch towards concluding a collective agreement.” There had been partial agreements and a clear intention to “continue negotiations in January and to reach a conclusion quickly”. A solution can only be found at the negotiating table.
A first warning strike by the pilots on the day before Christmas Eve went smoothly for most passengers. Discover was able to reschedule flights to times outside the five-hour strike window. However, if the strike is prolonged, flight cancellations could quickly occur.
After the surprising warning strike in December, Lufthansa demanded an additional agreement on how to deal with each other – a so-called social partner charter. This was promptly viewed by the VC as a restriction on freedom of collective bargaining.
The Lufthansa Group’s holiday airline was initially launched in the Corona summer of 2021 under the name “Eurowings Discover” and was later renamed “Discover Airlines”. The 24 aircraft so far are used at the hubs in Frankfurt and Munich on long and medium-haul routes. The Discover is intended to be cheaper than the Lufthansa core brand and to compete with other holiday airlines such as the Condor in the lucrative leisure market.
Source: Stern
