Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), the union representing German commercial pilots, has announced that Eurowings pilots will be on strike tomorrow, 6 October.
“Negotiations on collective wage agreement failed. Strike from Eurowings pilots on 6.10.2022, from 00:00 to 23:59. Central requirement: relief for employees. Operating at maximum capacity cannot be permanent”, reads the union’s tweet announcing the strike.
VC indicated that current negotiations on the collective wage agreement (MTV) at Eurowings have failed. Ten rounds of negotiations, two of them after the clear signal of the ballot, have not led to any significant compromise, even though the current MTV was signed in 2015 and has not been adjusted since.
The union said its main demand is the relief of the strain on employees. Workload has increased significantly, the airline regularly asking pilots to put in the maximum amount of permitted working hours, which Matthias Baier, press spokesman and board member of VC, says should not be a permanent situation.
We regret the restrictions for the passengers, but the lack of accommodation on the part of Eurowings management, leaves us no option but to emphasize our demands with industrial action.
Matthias Baier, board member VC
“We are open to talks about how we can achieve reasonable working hours for Eurowings employees in the long term. So far, however, it has not been possible to agree on a common path with the employer. It is not enough to sit at the negotiating table, one must be willing to find a solution and not present counter-demands as an offer”, added Marcel Gröls, Chairman of the union.
Eurowings, a subsidiary of the Lufthansa group, said only the flights from Eurowings Germany will be impacted, not the one from Eurowings Europe and it expects to operate about half of the scheduled flights for tomorrow. It will also be relying on partners from Lufthansa to limit the impact of the strike on passengers.
