Lufthansa airline and its customers face the next major strike as its ground staff stop work at 5 German airports on Wednesday morning, February 7. Hundreds of flights and more than 100,000 passengers are expected to be affected.
What this means for the passengers and why they are on strike, you will find answers to in this article.
The wave of strikes in Germany shows no sign of abating. After last week major strike among the security and baggage handling members at 11 airports, Lufthansa’s ground staff are now following suit.
“Due to the strike, we currently assume that around 10 to 20 percent of Lufthansa Airlines’ schedule will be possible on February 7,” Lufthansa’s website said on Tuesday.
The trade union Verdi has called for a 27-hour warning strike as part of a dispute over pay for its ground staff, who works on maintenance for passenger and aircraft handling. It concerns 25,000 employees.
The strike comes on top of a long series of conflicts that have been going on for several months in Germany, where inflation, which eats up purchasing power, increases tensions between employees and management in the annual price negotiations.
When does the Lufthansa strike start?
Already on Wednesday at 4 the ground staff must leave their work and they must not resume until 7:10 a.m. Thursday, February 8.
The strike will affect five of Germany’s busiest airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf. At Munich airport alone, around 400 Lufthansa flights were scheduled for Wednesday.
Between 80 and 90 percent of Lufthansa’s scheduled flights are expected to be cancelled. This means that up to 100,000 passengers must find an alternative form of travel.
Passengers with flights booked on these dates were informed of cancellations and rebooking options on Monday 6 February via e-mail or the Lufthansa app. They are advised to check regularly for updates.
If flights are canceled at short notice and there is no suitable alternative flight, the airline usually allows passengers to convert their ticket to a Deutsche Bahn train ticket free of charge.
Passengers can also rebook their flight that has been cancelled due to the strike free of charge on lufthansa.com, in the customer app or via the service centres.
Lufthansa and Verdi continue negotiations
The employees who have been called to strike relate to Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Engineering & Operational Services, as the parties have not yet reached an agreement in the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations.
Verdi is demanding a wage increase of 12.5 percent for the employees or an increase of at least 500 euros more per month for a period of twelve months. In addition, there must be an inflation compensation bonus at group level of 3,000 euros.
There is also a need for better working conditions for staff to provide better service to passengers. If Verdi and Lufthansa do not reach an agreement, it is not unlikely that the next strike will last longer than just one day.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled for February 12 in Frankfurt. According to Verdi, three more rounds have been agreed.