The strike is over. Now the negotiating teams have the floor again. Behind closed doors they are looking for compromises that will prevent further strikes.
After the ground staff’s warning strike, Lufthansa is negotiating again. Representatives of the company and the Verdi union met at Lufthansa’s Frankfurt headquarters on Wednesday afternoon to seek a compromise in the collective bargaining dispute. The negotiating partners remained silent about possible results or intermediate steps.
Takeoffs and landings were initially canceled in the morning before operations returned to normal during the day. Since Monday evening, more than 1,000 flights at Germany’s largest airline have been canceled due to the second Verdi warning strike in just a few days.
In Berlin, the union has been negotiating in parallel since Wednesday morning with the private security companies that carry out passenger and baggage checks at the airports on behalf of the Federal Police. This concerns the salaries and working conditions of around 25,000 employees. In contrast to Lufthansa, the discussions here were planned to last two days from the outset, so results could not be expected until Thursday at the earliest.
Strike actions at many locations
Before the two warning strikes by Lufthansa ground staff, Verdi organized a nationwide warning strike by aviation security staff on February 1st, which also led to around 1,100 flight cancellations. At Lufthansa, the second walkout by technicians, logisticians and counter staff was particularly noticeable at the Munich and Frankfurt hubs. There were also strike actions in Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart.
Verdi is demanding 12.5 percent more money for the more than 20,000 ground workers as well as an inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros for a term of one year. Lufthansa offered the bonus in fragmented form and around 10 percent more salary, but several months later and for a term that was more than twice as long. It seems to be all about payment points and duration, but a Lufthansa spokesman left it open whether the company would increase the offer.
The situation in aviation security is similar after five unsuccessful rounds of negotiations so far. The collective bargaining partners agreed in advance for the sixth round to last two days. Verdi is demanding a flat rate of 2.80 euros more hourly wages for passenger and baggage inspectors. Together with other demands, this results in a volume of between 13.6 and 20.25 percent, the employers from the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies calculated and rejected.
Source: Stern
