The pilots’ strike that started at midnight led to the first flight cancellations at the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover. In Frankfurt, seven of the airline’s 16 scheduled departures were canceled on Saturday. In these cases, the group wanted to either use jets from other group companies or rebook the affected passengers.
The company had announced that it would offer two thirds of all flights on Saturday. The strike by the Cockpit Association was scheduled to last three days up to and including Monday. Discover also flies from Munich on behalf of the core company Lufthansa.
The effects of the solidarity strike by Lufthansa long-haul pilots announced for Monday morning still remained unclear. For the first time, the VC pilots union from the parent company Lufthansa called for a solidarity strike for their Discover colleagues. Only Boeing 787 aircraft, of which Lufthansa currently only owns five, will be on strike over a period of four hours. Other aircraft types are not affected.
Lufthansa organization boss Karl Brandes reacted with incomprehension to the call for a “non-company solidarity strike”. In a letter to the pilots, he pointed out that Lufthansa had concluded a long-term collective agreement with VC. “Also with the aim of ensuring that we at Lufthansa Airlines have a long-term collective bargaining agreement without strikes in order to implement our planned growth together with you over the next few years.” The VC call is “more than strange”.
Airline was founded in 2021
The comparatively small holiday airline Discover, with 24 Airbus jets and around 420 pilots, only departs from Frankfurt and Munich and is primarily intended to compete with Condor in the tourist business.
The VC wants to force a first collective agreement at the airline, which was founded in summer 2021. The pilots have already staged a five-hour warning strike and two regular strikes since December. Within the Lufthansa Group, the VC has established a joint tariff commission for the German companies.
According to its own information, Discover already pays higher pilot salaries, but it agreed these with the works council and not with the union. The new salaries correspond exactly to the demands of the VC, as both sides have confirmed.
The union wants to continue the industrial action, although its material demands initially appear to have been largely implemented. The VC criticized that a works agreement does not achieve the legal quality and security of a collective agreement with the union. In addition, the company demanded a so-called social partnership charter as a prerequisite, which restricts the fundamental rights of the union.
Solidarity or support strikes are generally permitted under German labor law as long as they remain proportionate and appear suitable to support the main industrial action.
