News / Germany

Lufthansa facing another strike this week

Monday, 23 November 2015 6:45 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 23 November 2015 6:51 PM ]

Planes of German airline Lufthansa are being parked on November 11, 2015 at the airport in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany.

Lufthansa cabin crew’s union has announced plans to go ahead with more strikes on Thursday, Friday and next Monday after it failed to resolve its dispute with management over payment and retirement benefits.

The German airline’s cabin crew union, known as the UFO, also warned on Monday of more industrial stoppages if the company failed to "react appropriately" to their demands.

"We hope that this will finally bring serious movement in this labor dispute and that we will not be forced to also strike in December," said UFO chief Nicoley Baublies.

Long-running dispute

UFO has been locked in a battle with the flagship air carrier for weeks.

The union wants the airline to secure payment and retirement provisions for its 19,000 members.

On the opposite side, Lufthansa's management has been adamant on its effort to curb costs.

Lufthansa’s management has also complained that the demands by the UFO flight attendants' union were "too vague" and unjustified under the German labor law.

In November, Lufthansa had offered to raise the amount of a one-time payment to cabin crew members by 1,000 euros (1,075 dollars) to 3,000 euros and to back away from its proposal to raise its early retirement age from the current minimum age of 55 to 56.

UFO rejected Lufthansa’s offer, saying it constituted only a "minimal" improvement.

On November 10, the company said it had launched legal action against its flight attendants.

The court, in response, rejected the carrier's demand to force the workers back to work.

A board displaying canceled Lufthansa flights can be seen behind the logo of German airline Lufthansa on November 11, 2015 at the airport in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany.(AFP Photo)

Earlier cancellations

The cabin crew workers union staged another strike, affecting all of Lufthansa's long- and medium-haul flights, earlier this month.

The group’s earlier industrial action, which began on November 6 and lasted a week, prompted the cancelation of 4,700 flights and forced 550,000 passengers to change their travel plans.

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