Does that have to be the case, many who wanted to travel with Lufthansa this Wednesday will ask themselves. Verdi has called on the ground staff to go on a warning strike, with serious consequences: the strike day becomes a strike day, the vast majority of machines remain on the ground – just like the passengers.
130,000 people have to reschedule, and that won’t be easy. Because since June, Lufthansa has already canceled more than 6,000 flights because of a lack of staff. So there shouldn’t be much room for change when rebooking. And you can only switch to the train to a limited extent to replace domestic flights. The trains are full, and here too there is a lack of staff.
For people who finally want to travel again after a two-year Corona break, the warning strike is really bad news. Isn’t the chaos at the airport enough? Canceled flights, lost suitcases, long queues at check-in or at security. And now this too. Verdi continues to strain the nerves of German citizens. Is the union going too far?
Labor disputes are not cuddles. They should hurt the company so that they work. Verdi should be able to do that.
If the warning strike on Wednesday largely paralyzes operations, this shows impressively how important the ground staff is in terms of the union. And how necessary it would have been to hire enough employees again in good time after the Corona break to satisfy the growing desire to travel among the citizens.
And yes, Lufthansa may have to offer even more in terms of salary than it is currently doing in order to attract new employees and keep the old ones.
Nevertheless, the warning strike is excessive. Little has been negotiated so far. The labor dispute comes far too early, it lasts far too long. An unnecessary escalation at the expense of the travelers and possibly driven by the fear of the Verdi strategists of being overshadowed by the pilots if one waits too long.
Because the Cockpit Association is currently preparing a ballot, the pilots want more money, the next strike is imminent. A labor dispute by the ground staff would have fizzled out if the pilots didn’t sit in the cockpit.
But does nobody really think about the passengers? Many people – including Verdi members – want to travel, relax, finally back to Paphos instead of Pellworm. A little break from the worries that don’t let up: war, inflation, climate.
Many have booked trips for the summer holidays when it might have been wiser to save for the back-up heating bill. Now they stay at home. Instead of swimming in the sea, they fill out forms to get their money back. That’s not fair.
