German airline Lufthansa cancels 800 flights, after pilots union announce all-day strike
During the coronavirus crisis, Lufthansa terminated the agreement and started to set up a new airline with lower pay scale conditions, bypassing the collective deal. "We have not received a sufficient offer today either," said spokesperson Matthias Baier.
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Berlin, Sept 2: German airline Lufthansa has cancelled 800 flights both passenger and cargo flights on Friday (Sept 2) after pilots union 'Vereinigung Cockpit' announced they are going on a planned all-day strike. On Thursday (Sept 1), due to the strike, the airline said it would cancel all flights to and from Frankfurt and Munich airports, affecting 130,000 passengers.
Lufthansa said while it was working to normalize the situation, "isolated cancellations or delays" on Saturday or Sunday were also possible. The pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) confirmed overnight that Lufthansa pilots would stage an all-day strike on Friday (Sept 2) both for flights by the core passenger business and its cargo subsidiary, DPA.
VC says it is demanding a 5.5 per cent pay rise this year for its more than 5,000 pilots, as well as automatic inflation adjustments for 2023, but said discussions had failed. During the coronavirus crisis, Lufthansa terminated the agreement and started to set up a new airline with lower pay scale conditions, bypassing the collective deal. "We have not received a sufficient offer today either," said spokesperson Matthias Baier. "This is sobering and a missed opportunity."
Michael Niggemann, Chief Human Resources Officer and Labor Director of Deutsche Lufthansa AG said, "We cannot understand VC's call for a strike. The management has made a very good and socially balanced offer - despite the continuing burdens of the COVID crisis and uncertain prospects for the global economy. This escalation comes at the expense of many thousands of customers."