Grounded Lufthansa planes lined up at Frankfurt Airport final Friday. (Photograph by Boris Roessler)
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Tick, tick, tock. Lufthansa and its pilots’ union have agreed to a compensation deal after the union threatened a two-day strike this week on Wednesday and Thursday, reports Reuters.
It follows a one-day strike final Friday which pressured Germany’s flag-carrier to cancel roughly 800 flights.
“The collective bargaining negotiations with the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) will proceed below excessive time stress,” the airline stated in a statement earlier at this time. “As a result of strike name printed tonight, the strike-related flight cancellations for Wednesday and Thursday should be determined at this time at 12:00.”
The airline claims to have been caught off guard by what it characterised as an unreasonable escalation. “We lack any understanding for this plan of action,” stated Michael Niggemann, Chief Human Assets Officer and Labor Director of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
“The union will current the brand new demand for the primary time at this time,” stated the airline’s assertion. “The earlier demand for automated inflation compensation has been changed by a requirement for an annual pay enhance of 8.2% beginning in 2023 — along with a 5.5% enhance this 12 months. The union’s listing of calls for accommodates a complete of 16 particular person factors.”
As of two:30 p.m. at this time in Germany, none of Lufthansa’s flights for Wednesday and Thursday had been canceled, based on data from FlightAware. The airline needed to keep away from a repeat of final Friday’s crippling disruptions, which grounded the lion’s share of its flights and affected about 130,000 passengers.
Considered by way of a wider lens, that is simply one other instance of the business’s labor unions flexing their muscle groups — and profitable. Earlier this summer season, British Airways employees secured an 8% pay enhance from administration, after threatening a strike at London’s Heathrow Airport.
In Spain, cabin crew working for the finances service Ryanair have deliberate weekly 24-hour strikes by way of January 2023 in an effort to safe higher work circumstances.
In the meantime, in the US, heading into Labor Day Weekend, pilots from airways together with United Airways, Delta Air Traces and JetBlue Airways picketed at 13 airports nationwide.
Notably, in late June, United Airways agreed to present its pilots raises of 14.5% inside 18 months. The pilots appeared happy, till, six days later, American Airways provided its pilots a brand new contract with pay will increase totaling almost 17%.
However that was apparently deemed too low. In August, American Airline pilots union stated it was searching for a 20.4% pay increase over three years, in addition to improved scheduling.
The present base wage for an American Airways captain with 12 years of expertise flying 80 hours a month ranges between $267,000 a 12 months if flying a narrowbody aircraft to $329,000 for flying a widebody, based on the Allied Pilots Affiliation, the labor union representing American Airways pilots.
