The labor dispute involving Lufthansa’s brand divisions with the pilot and flight attendant unions shows no signs of a swift resolution. Carsten Spohr, the CEO, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (on Tuesday’s edition) that the corporation will not yield before the strikes. He stated to the newspaper that “a few days with a reduced offering due to striking within the Lufthansa Group is preferable to being permanently weakened as a core brand”. He stressed that restructuring the company into a viable international group is essential for its future security.
The unrest intensified last Friday when hundreds of flights were canceled at the core brand and the subsidiary Cityline due to a warning strike by the flight attendant union UFO, occurring right as travelers were returning from the Easter holidays. On Monday and Tuesday this week, many pilots also went on strike following a call by the pilot union VC, resulting in only about one in three short-haul and one in two long-haul flights operating as scheduled. The various divisional unions are operating in competition with Verdi, the major service union, with whom Lufthansa only concluded a collective bargaining agreement for the new subsidiary, City Airlines, on Friday.
Spohr remains insistent on the necessity of bringing the core brand’s costs under control to remain competitive. However, he acknowledged a dilemma facing the union officials from Vereining Cockpit and UFO: “None of the airlines they represent even participate in the wonderful growth of our Lufthansa Group, which comprises a total of 14 airlines”. He attributed this issue to “often decades-long complex collective bargaining structures-partially stemming from our period as a state-owned airline”.
Spohr, who has led Europe’s largest airline since 2014, rejected accusations of pitting the unions against each other, inviting all employee organizations instead to help create growth prospects across all flight operations. He argued, “Ultimately, the majority of employees decide who they feel best represents their interests. And they decide differently in various airlines. However, the strategy decided by the management board and supervisory board remains unaffected: We operate aircraft only where they generate value”.
These strikes strike Lufthansa at the peak of its 100th anniversary celebrations, with a major anniversary event scheduled for Frankfurt this Wednesday, expected to be attended by Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU).
The first day of industrial action across Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, CityLine, and Eurowings proceeded as expected from the perspective of the Vereining Cockpit (VC). VC President Andreas Pinheiro noted that over 700 flights were canceled for Monday. “We are observing the situation very closely and tracking which planes remain on the ground. So far, the strike is proceeding as expected”.
Pinheiro added that Lufthansa has “always been given enough time to present a serious offer. However, an offer that is supposed to be co-financed elsewhere is not sustainable for us. Such an offer would also be viewed critically by management boards, especially when it comes to their own bonuses, which by the way ranged up to 100 percent, despite what is presumed to be going poorly for LH Classic, the largest part of the group”.
The Vereining Cockpit reaffirmed its willingness to negotiate, stating, “We are ready for discussions at all times. However, the prerequisite is a negotiable offer. This applies to Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo for the company pension scheme (bAV), to Cityline for the VTV, and also to Eurowings for the bAV”.
They expressed regret for the difficulties faced by passengers and their co-workers on the ground. Pinheiro stated, “If we could not strike to achieve movement from the employer side, all that would be collective begging. That cannot be the spirit of a society that explicitly desires co-determination by employees, regardless of which union they belong to”. According to Pinheiro, a second day of strike could be avoided, with the decision resting entirely with the employer’s side.
Furthermore, the VC called on its members to participate in the demonstration march planned by the flight attendant union UFO for the coming Wednesday at Frankfurt Airport, which is set to start at the Kiss & Fly parking lot at 3:15 PM, followed by a rally.
