An estimated 200,000 passengers are due to feel the force and inconvenience of a ground staff strike called this week by Germany’s United Service Union (Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, or ver.di for short).
The strikes are set for 7 and 8 March, starting at 4 am, with times varying depending on worker schedules and with the union claiming that the strikes and timing are designed to put pressure on Lufthansa without negatively affecting passengers.
145 hours of strikes
Coming amid ongoing industrial negotiations and against a background of previous strikes around pay and conditions, both sides in the dispute are blaming the other for failing to take the process seriously.
Lufthansa has criticised the union’s approach, with Michael Niggemann, its Chief Human Resources Officer and Labour Director pointing out the union has spent more time striking (145 hours) than it has around the negotiating table. Only two negotiation dates have happened and the next is due for 13 and 14 March. The airline is furious that the union has announced “warning strikes” while preparing to undertake further talks.
Meanwhile ver.di says the airline has offered a pay rise of only 0.5% in response to a 12.5% request and has ignored “our request to negotiate”. The union says in this way, “Lufthansa is telling us that it will only move if the pressure continues to increase”.
No living wage despite record results
Marvin Reschinsky, a ver.di representative, told press that Lufthansa, Germany’s flag carrier, does not pay its workers a living wage, in what are some of Europe and Germany’s most expensive cities to live in. Germany was one of the last European countries to implement a minimum wage, which is currently set at 12 euros an hour, the highest in Europe apart from Luxembourg. However not all workers are entitled to receive it, with the self-employed and those who have re-entered the job market after a long period of unemployment excluded for the first six months in their job.
The flag carrier, which will announce its annual results on 7 March 2024, declared last year “Lufthansa is back”. Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said last spring: “In just one year, we have achieved an unprecedented financial turnaround.” That turnaround included “an operating profit of 1.5 billion euro” and a doubling of revenue to 32.8 billion euros. This year’s results announcement is also anticipated to be record-breakingly positive.
