The warning strike by Lufthansa ground staff, which has caused the airline to cancel almost all flights at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs, began early Wednesday morning. The strike started at 3:45 a.m. as planned, Verdi representative Marvin Reschinsky told the AFP news agency. “The first shifts take part in the strike with a high participation rate.”
In the tariff dispute with Lufthansa, Verdi called for a warning strike until 6 a.m. on Thursday morning in the middle of the summer travel season. According to Lufthansa, 678 flights were canceled in Frankfurt am Main – 32 of them on Tuesday and 646 on Wednesday – and 345 flights in Munich, 15 of them on Tuesday and 330 on Wednesday.
According to the group, a total of around 134,000 passengers are affected. Lufthansa assumes that there may still be “individual flight cancellations or delays” on Thursday and Friday.
The second round of collective bargaining between Lufthansa and Verdi for around 20,000 ground workers was unsuccessful. The union is demanding 9.5 percent more wages and a minimum hourly wage of 13 euros for a twelve-month period. Lufthansa submitted an offer consisting of fixed amounts and a component dependent on business development with a term of 18 months.
According to the company, this means an increase of nine to almost eleven percent within the next twelve months for employees with a monthly basic salary of 3000 euros gross, with a basic salary of 4000 euros gross per month an increase of 8.4 percent and with 6500 euros by 5 .9 percent. Verdi negotiator Christine Behle had described this as “prettily calculated”.
