Lufthansa pilots announce further strikes

Lufthansa airlines: strike paralyses operations

German pilots union VC has announced further strikes at Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) for Tuesday and Wednesday after fresh talks at the end of a four-day walkout failed to settle their long-running pay dispute.

VC board member Joerg Handwerg said in a statement on Monday in Frankfurt.

“Unfortunately the high-level talks that took place today at short notice failed to produce a result.

“There is still no negotiable offer from Lufthansa regarding the compensation of pilots, which means industrial action needs to continue.

“The latest round of strikes will affect short-haul flights on Tuesday, Nov. 29, and short- and long-haul flights out of Germany on Wednesday, Nov. 30,’’ Handwerg said

Lufthansa said it would have a special flight schedule by Monday, 1400 CET (8.00 a.m. ET/1300 GMT), adding it is disappointed by VC’s move.

Recently, Lufthansa had to cancel nearly 2,800 flights during a four-day strike from Nov. 23 that affected over 350,000 passengers, the 14th walkout in a dispute that since early 2014 has cost the carrier hundreds of millions of Euros.

VC had rejected the latest pay offer from Lufthansa on Friday, lifting the threat of extending its strike beyond Saturday.

Lufthansa said that all flights would start on schedule on Monday, Nov. 28, as there had been no strike call from VC for that day.

Meanwhile, Germany’s biggest airline had earlier urged VC to resume talks.

“We have to talk. I hope very much that VC finally changes its uncompromising stance.

“This cannot be forced via strikes,” Bettina Volkens, Lufthansa’s board member in charge of human resources, told newsmen.

Lufthansa has offered to increase the pilots’ pay by 4.4 per ent in two installments and make a one-off payment worth 1.8 months’ pay.

The union wants an average annual pay rise of 3.7 per cent for 5,400 pilots over a five-year period backdated to 2012.

According to the IW Cologne Institute for Economic Research, strikes by the pilots cost Lufthansa 222 million Euros in 2014, while in 2015 walkouts by pilots and cabin crew cost the airline 231 million Euros.

Lufthansa said it had taken another 20 million-euro hit in the first two days of the recent strike.

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