The Verdi union has called on Lufthansa ground staff to go on an all-day warning strike on Wednesday. As the union announced on Monday morning, the strike is scheduled to begin on Wednesday at four o’clock in the morning and will affect the Lufthansa locations in Frankfurt/Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf. The industrial action is scheduled to last until Thursday, February 8th at 7:10 a.m. “This strike would be unnecessary if Lufthansa were to grant ground employees the same increases as other groups of employees in the group. However, there was no willingness to do this at the negotiating table. We therefore hope that the passengers will understand, because, like the employees, they too want one “End of the staff shortage and better service,” said Verdi’s negotiator Marvin Reschinsky on the status of the negotiations.
The background to the strike call is the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations across the company for the approximately 25,000 employees on the ground. According to Verdi, an inadequate offer has been presented in the negotiations so far. Specifically criticized are the eight zero months without compensation development at the beginning, the low increase increments, the 36-month term and completely unanswered demands. For example, the offer provides for an average increase of less than two percent in the first year, said Verdi. In addition, employees outside Lufthansa Technik should receive a lower inflation compensation bonus.
The union is demanding 12.5 percent more salary for Lufthansa’s ground staff, which would correspond to at least 500 euros per month for a term of twelve months. There will also be a group-wide inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros for employees. The next round of negotiations will take place on February 12, 2024 in Frankfurt am Main. Strikes by ground workers had a massive impact on flight operations during the last collective bargaining round. In July 2022, a strike by ground staff largely paralyzed air traffic at the Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.
