Lufthansa Strike: Ground staff at Lufthansa initiated their second strike this month, affecting major airports on Tuesday, with ongoing pressure in wage negotiations scheduled to continue the following day.
Verdi’s lead negotiator, Marvin Reschinsky, warned of potential prolonged strikes if Lufthansa fails to meet their demands, emphasizing the need for significant concessions from the airline.
Lufthansa Strike….
The industrial action is set to disrupt over 100K passengers, lasting until Wednesday, according to Lufthansa’s estimates. With only 10% of scheduled flights operational at affected airports—including Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Duesseldorf, Cologne, and Stuttgart—significant travel disruptions are expected.
Germany, facing heightened inflation, has witnessed widespread strikes across various sectors, including aviation, railways, and public transport, as workers demand better wages. Passengers like Martin Pilo, frustrated by the ongoing strikes, expressed their annoyance while waiting for luggage at Frankfurt’s terminals, where most Lufthansa check-in counters remained closed.
The recent strike follows Lufthansa’s presentation of a new wage offer to approximately 25K ground staff workers last week, which Verdi criticized as antisocial.
Verdi demands a 12.5% wage increase or a minimum of 500 euros more per month over 12 months, alongside a one-time 3K euro payment to counter inflation. Reschinsky of Verdi emphasized the necessity of these demands due to the ground staff’s 10% loss in purchasing power compared to 2021.
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