Lufthansa Ground Staff to Strike at Major German Airports

DALLAS — The United Services Trade Union (ver.di) has called on Lufthansa (LH) ground staff to take part in an all-day warning strike on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, from 4:00 a.m. at the LH bases in Frankfurt/Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf.

The strike follows the ongoing group-wide collective bargaining for the approximately 25,000 employees on the ground at Deutsche Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services, Lufthansa Engineering and Operational Services and other Group companies.

Inadequate Offer

According to the union, LH's offer in the second round of negotiations on 23 January has been widely discussed in the companies recently and criticized as inadequate and divisive. Specifically, the eight zero months with no pay progression at the beginning, the low increments, the 36-month term, and completely unanswered demands are being criticized.

For example, the offer provides an average increase of less than 2% in the first year. In addition, employees outside Lufthansa Technik will receive a lower inflation adjustment bonus. As per bayern.verdi.de, despite requests, LH was not prepared to improve its first and only offer to avoid industrial action.

Against this backdrop, ver.di, the second largest German trade union with around 1.9 million members, is now calling for an all-day warning strike to increase the pressure on employers to present a significantly improved offer in the next round of negotiations. The warning strikes will begin on Wednesday, February 7, at 4:00 am and end on Thursday, February 8, at 7:10 am.

Strike Action

As all ground staff from maintenance to passenger and aircraft handling will be called out on warning strike, there are likely to be major flight cancellations and delays. Reschinsky asks passengers for their understanding. ver.di is informing passengers about the upcoming warning strike in good time so that they can prepare for it and possibly reschedule their flights.

In addition to the ver.di demand for a 12.5% increase in salary, but at least 500 euros per month for twelve months, a uniform Group-wide inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros is also being demanded. In addition, shift work is to be upgraded.

According to Cirium Diio data, LH has 23 departures from Berlin (BER), 15 departures from Düsseldorf (DUS), 279 departures from Frankfurt (FRA), 23 departures from Hamburg (HAM), and 204 departures from Munich (MUC) on the day of the strike, meaning that almost 10,000 passengers will be affected.

The next round of negotiations will take place on February 12, 2024, in Frankfurt am Main.

Featured image: Lufthansa Airbus A340-313 during de-icing with Type II. Photo: Fabrizio Spicuglia/Airways