In the labor dispute at the airline Eurowings, the pilots’ union Cockpit has stepped up its pace and started a three-day strike on Monday. According to the Lufthansa subsidiary, 240 of 488 flights were canceled at the start of the week.
CFO Kai Duve vented his anger at Cologne/Bonn Airport and accused the union of having lost “measure and balance”. With a recently submitted offer, Eurowings has reached the limits of what is economically feasible. Every day of the strike costs the company a double-digit million euro amount. That jeopardizes jobs.
In the collective bargaining dispute, Cockpit wants to significantly reduce the workload of pilots. The union demands 14 additional days off a year. Eurowings offers 10.
With the required five hours of work, which the unions require the pilots to work less per week, three hours were offered, said finance director Duve. According to company information, it is about the maximum weekly working time that is only required in exceptional cases, for example during the summer holidays. It is currently 55 hours.
CFO wants to resume negotiations
The union had already been accommodated considerably, said Duve. “I don’t know why that shouldn’t be negotiable – I really don’t have any understanding for that.” He called on the union to return to the negotiating table. “We have to talk now, until then there will be no new offer.”
Most of the flights, around 100, were canceled at Düsseldorf Airport on Monday. There were also numerous failures in Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Berlin. According to the company, around 17,000 passengers were affected by the strike. The company is trying to use additional capacities, both with its own pilots and with pilots from partner companies. “We’re seeing an increasing number of pilots contacting us and wanting to fly,” said Duve.
At Cologne/Bonn Airport, the manager went demonstratively to a group of passengers whose travel planning was affected by the strike. “I’m really sorry,” said the Eurowings CFO. The waiting guests nodded or looked aside, rather embarrassed.
Union demands jeopardize the future of Eurowings
The Eurowings management received remote support from the parent company Lufthansa. Its boss Carsten Spohr told the dpa that the future of Eurowings would be jeopardized if the management responded to Cockpit’s demands. “The Lufthansa Group offers the best conditions for employees in Europe.” This will also be done in the future, “because we want to bring the best to us”. In the end, “reason will prevail”.
Cockpit had already organized a one-day strike on October 6th, even then the effects on flight operations were great. The call to strike for the period from Monday to Wednesday inclusive again only applied to the German subsidiary of Eurowings, but not to Eurowings Europe, which is licensed in Austria, nor to Eurowings Discover.
According to the union, it is very important that the workload of employees in the cockpit is reduced. The maximum flight duty times would have to be limited and rest periods extended. The union rejected management’s most recent offer as insufficient and non-negotiable. The employer is doing “window dressing,” said a union spokesman.
According to statements by Eurowings manager Duve and Lufthansa boss Spohr, the improvements demanded by the Cockpit Association are still not in sight. The display boards at the major German airports should therefore be able to read very often until Wednesday: “cancelled” – deleted.
