Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo pilots will strike for 24 hours on Friday, the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) labour union announced amid an ongoing dispute over wages.
The action will begin at 12:01am on 2nd September and end at 23:59pm.
VC stated earlier in the week that negotiations between the union and the airline had failed, with strike action going ahead, disrupting the passenger and cargo divisions.
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The union is seeking to secure a 5.5% pay rise this year for more than 5,000 pilots, as well as automatic rises in line with inflation going forward.
“We have not received a sufficient offer today either. This is sobering and a missed opportunity,” VC spokesperson Matthias Baier said on Wednesday.
“We’re too far apart at the moment. In addition to compensating for the loss in real wages, what we now need above all is a future-proof solution for the remuneration structure in all professional groups,” VC’s Marcel Grols stated.
In response to the strike, Lufthansa said “The airline is unable to provide more specific information on the impact of the walkouts at this time. Lufthansa will do everything possible to minimise the impact of the strike measures.”
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“The group has presented an offer with an 18-month term, in which pilots at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo will receive a total of €900 more in basic pay per month in two stages. This will benefit entry-level salaries in particular. An entry-level co-pilot will receive more than 18% additional basic pay over the duration of the agreement, while a captain in the final stage will receive 5%,” the company added.
On Thursday, 97.7% of pilots at Lufthansa’s subsidiary Eurowings also voted in favour of strike action. Although, they wanted to continue wage negotiations with their employer first. Negotiations for pilots at Eurowings will resume next week.
The strike action from pilots comes weeks after Lufthansa managed to reach a pay deal with ground staff to prevent further disruption which had already resulted in the cancellation of 1,000 flights.
