Updated on 6/09 at 5pm.
After a strike that saw Lufthansa cancel more than 800 flights from Frankfurt and Munich last weekend, the German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit called a new strike, this time for the following reasons Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 September in the near future. Travellers could therefore expect further disruption in German airspace, with Lufthansa forecasting " massive effects "on its operations. However, the company and Vereinigung Cockpit have reached a partial solution to the dispute, thereby cancelling the strike notice.
" We are delighted that a result has been achieved at the negotiating table and that further inconvenience to customers, employees and the company has been avoided." said Marcel Gröls, head of collective bargaining for the union. Today, important first steps towards sustainable cooperation have been taken" .
Against a backdrop of inflation and overcrowded airports, the union, which represents almost 5,000 pilots, entered into conflict with the company's management last week in order to obtain a pay riseThis led Lufthansa to sit down at the negotiating table today. Although the details of the agreement have not yet been revealed, Vereinigung Cockpit had presented a new demand, no longer for automatic compensation for inflation, but for an annual salary increase of 8.2 % from 2023, " in addition to this year's increase of 5.5 %" says Lufthansa in a press release.
For its part, the company announced that it was going to make a better offer on Tuesday, higher than the proposed increase of 500 euros from 1 September 2022 and 400 euros from 1 April 2023. This offer clearly convinced both parties to put an end to the dispute. " We will do everything in our power to come up with an improved offer, even under pressure", said Michael Niggemann, Head of Human Resources at Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
