Verdi calls on Lufthansa’s ground crew to make a warning strike.

The Verdi union called on employees to strike on Wednesday. The Lufthansa locations in Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf are affected.

About 400 Lufthansa flights are scheduled for Wednesday at Munich Airport alone. The warning strike will begin at 4 a.m. on Wednesday and last until 7:10 a.m. on Thursday. “We assume that 80, 90 percent of the Lufthansa program and that of its subsidiaries will be discontinued,” a Verdi spokesperson said this morning.

Special flight plan with consequences

Lufthansa announced on Monday that more than a hundred thousand passengers would be affected by the consequences of a special flight plan. This is currently being developed. The company criticized the union’s actions: “Even before actual negotiations begin, the duration and scale of the strike are completely incomprehensible,” the company said.

The background to the warning strike is the ongoing group-wide collective bargaining for the approximately 25,000 ground employees of Deutsche Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Cargo, among others. Verdi wants to increase the pressure on employers with the warning strike.

An offer in the second round of negotiations was rejected by the union. According to Verdi, the bottlenecks were the increases, which were perceived as too low, and the 36-month term.

“This strike would be unnecessary if Lufthansa were to grant ground crews the same increases as other groups of employees in the company,” Verdi’s negotiator Marvin Reschinsky said, according to the statement. “If Lufthansa does not realize this after this first warning strike, the employees are prepared to strike for longer.”

Demanded significantly more wages

In the ongoing collective labor agreement dispute, Verdi is demanding a 12.5 percent increase in salary, but at least 500 euros per month for a term of twelve months. In addition, there will be a uniform inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros for the entire group. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for February 12 in Frankfurt am Main.

It is the second strike this week for the Lufthansa Group: the pilots of Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines have been called for a two-day strike since Sunday. Passengers should prepare for cancellations and delays until Monday evening. (sda/awp/dpa)