It seems the Ver.di Union is still unhappy with Lufthansa, with them calling their ground staff members on strike.
Again.
Good luck catching a Lufthansa flight tomorrow. It’s probably cancelled… – Lufthansa Boeing 747-8i taxiing at Frankfurt Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
The strike will impact ground staff at Deutsche Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services, Lufthansa Engineering and Operational Services and other group companies., affecting over 25,000 staff.
It will impact Lufthansa group hubs at Frankfurt-Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart
The strike will begin on Monday evening (19 February) at 20.00 CET and end on Wednesday morning (21 February) at 07:10 CET.
Impact
It’s going to be big, with the airline planning to operate between 10 to 20 per cent at service on the 7th February, in effect grounding the majority of the airline with up to 90% cancellations.
Passengers affected by flight cancellations as a result of the Verdi strike will be informed by email or via the Lufthansa app.
Lufthansa advises that you should only come to the airport if your flight has not been cancelled, with the rebooking counters at airports not being staffed. You can rebook free of charge on lufthansa.com, in the customer app or via the service centres.
If you have booked a domestic German flight, you can also convert your ticket into a rail voucher at lufthansa.com.
There’s a full page at https://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/flight-information.html to digest – but you should be rebooking – or in a lot of cases – rebooked.
Why?
It seems that Ver.di isn’t impressed with the pay offer for the ground staff, which has not improved since the 23rd of January or has been enhanced since a third round of negotiations on 12 February 2024.
In Quotes
Marvin Reschinsky, ver.di’s chief negotiator, commented on the current offer:
“The ground workers feel that they have once again been offended. While the company is providing its pilots with an annual basic income of up to 270,000 euros with high double-digit salary increases, ground workers with starting hourly wages of 13 euros in some cases are not even to be compensated for the price increases of recent years. This is blatantly anti-social.”
The ver.di negotiator regrets the further escalation of the conflict:
“We do not want this escalation. We want a quick result for employees and passengers. After the last strike at the latest, the management should have come to its senses. But Lufthansa was not prepared to negotiate more than its only offer during the negotiation meeting, which lasted until late into the night. Therefore, the Group bears responsibility for the further escalation of the conflict.”
Check before you fly
Please check the current status of your flight before heading to the airport. It’s in interest, as you’re probably going to be rebooked. The airline’s advice page is at https://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/flight-information.html.
And if you’re hit, please don’t take it out on the remaining ground staff who will be up to their eyeballs in queries.
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