The United Service Sector Union (Ver.di), one of the largest German unions, has announced that the ground handling workers of the German airline “Lufthansa” will go on a two-day warning strike starting March 7.
They stated that employees are demanding better wages in response to increasing inflation. As stated by Ver.di, the “Lufthansa” group did not offer better wages than the last strike of the employees of “Lufthansa Cargo” and “Lufthansa Technik”, so the ground handling employees in the “Lufthansa” passenger areas will go on strike on Thursday.
The strike is scheduled to end at 7:10 a.m. on Saturday, March 9. The union aims to make an arrangement to improve the wages paid to Lufthansa ground handling employees. The union, which is demanding a 12.5 percent pay rise for ground staff of at least 500 euros, also wants a one-off bonus of 3,000 euros to employees, to compensate for high inflation.
“Lufthansa”, on the other hand, offers a 10 percent higher salary for a period of 28 months. The company criticized the continuation of the warning strikes, and especially did not accept the preconditions presented by Ver.di for returning to the negotiating table. The fifth collective agreement negotiations are scheduled to take place on March 13 and 14.
It will be the fourth strike by Lufthansa employees in the last two months. Lufthansa ground staff went on warning strike on February 7 and 20, and the airline canceled most of its flights, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.
In Germany, “warning strikes” are often used as a bargaining tactic, and negotiations are expected to be tough for the union as employers face mounting costs, AA writes.
