After several rounds of warning strikes at the airports, arbitration for the private aviation security forces begins today. At a secret location, the former Bremen Finance State Councilor Hans-Henning Lühr (SPD) wants to try to reconcile the different positions of the Verdi union and the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS).
The collective bargaining parties have initially given themselves until midnight on Sunday as a deadline for this. Verdi has committed itself not to call on the security service provider’s approximately 25,000 employees to stop work again until the end of the arbitration.
Six rounds of negotiations so far
According to Verdi negotiator Wolfgang Pieper, the topics are diverse. Salary increases, terms, pay points or allowances for trainers and managers: After six rounds of negotiations so far, there is no problem anywhere, and ultimately all issues remain open even after several waves of warning strikes.
The main sticking point still seems to be the overtime bonuses, which Verdi demands “from the first overtime hour onwards”. To date, there are time buffers free of surcharges and temporary overtime is billed via annual working time accounts. Pieper says the system is designed in such a way that practically no one receives overtime bonuses and only employers benefit from the flexibility buffer.
Ultimately, short-time work is avoided in times of year with less traffic, especially at smaller airports, counters the BDLS. According to the negotiator Frank Haindl, the companies have accommodated the employees on the issue of overtime bonuses starting earlier, after the bonuses for Sundays and public holidays and for night work had already been increased last year.
Silence about interim statuses
According to their own statements, the employers recently offered a three-stage increase in hourly wages of 3.25 euros for a period of 24 months. Verdi had asked for an hourly wage of 2.80 euros more, but for a term of 12 months.
The arbitrator’s expected recommendation is not binding for either side. A lot will depend on whether it is worked out together by both sides and ultimately supported. Both sides want to keep quiet about the interim situation.
Lufthansa and UFO continue to talk about tariff solutions
On Thursday, Lufthansa began negotiations again with the UFO union. A solution is getting closer to the collective bargaining dispute among Lufthansa cabin crew. The company and the UFO union are continuing their round of negotiations today, according to negotiating circles. No details were given regarding the content. Lufthansa did not even want to confirm the start of negotiations on Thursday.
UFO charges 15 percent more money for a contract term of 18 months for the approximately 18,000 flight attendants at Lufthansa as well as for their 1,000 colleagues at the regional subsidiary Cityline. The union also wants to achieve an inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros and higher allowances. However, negotiations are currently only taking place for employees of the main airline.
Most recently, UFO paralyzed Lufthansa’s flight operations with a strike on March 12th. The cabin union decided against another strike over Easter.
On Thursday, Ufo also reported on progress at the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines, which had previously had no fares. The union announced on its website that it had managed to tick a box on content-related issues such as vacation, deployment planning, significant table increases and additional pay components. There are now two appointments still outstanding that deal with social partnership between the company and the union. The dispute over Discover also put a strain on the negotiations at Lufthansa’s parent company.