Lufthansa has made the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union (VC) a new offer to resolve the present industrial dispute – which has led to pilots striking and cancellation of numerous services.
The VC union has called on its members to take strike action on six days in total in the latest wave of strikes, which began on 23 November. Lufthansa has had to cancel 4,450 flights as a result.
The company is now offering a two-step 4.4 per cent increase in remuneration plus a one-off payment. Remuneration would be increased by 2.4 per cent for 2016 and by a further two per cent for 2017.
The carrier says this latest offer is not linked to any other terms or conditions and it is meeting a key VC demand. The union has also repeatedly told the media it would be willing to enter mediation on the basis of an offer of this kind.
Lufthansa chief officer for hub management, Harry Hohmeister says: “We want to urgently avoid any further damage to our company and finally return to offering our passengers the kind of service they can expect from us. And that’s why we submitted a new offer to the VC yesterday evening.”
Lufthansa says it is immediately available to begin preparations for mediation on the Collective Labor Agreement on Remuneration together with the VC on the basis of this offer.
Lufthansa chief officer for corporate human resources and legal affairs, Bettina Volkens says: “We want to get back to the negotiating table as quickly as possible.
“As desired by the VC, we can then successively negotiate on all the currently-open collective labor agreement issues. And this in turn should lead us back to long-term industrial peace and a sound social partnership.”
“We assume that the VC will now end its strike action,” Hohmeister adds, “and that we can return to normal flight operations from tomorrow onwards.”
