By Jeanne Plaumann
Lufthansa cancels almost all flights in Frankfurt and Munich on Wednesday!
Because: The trade union Ver.di calls on the approximately 20,000 employees of the Lufthansa ground staff to a one-day warning strike! “Lufthansa has had to cancel almost the entire flight program at the hubs in Frankfurt and Munich for Wednesday,” the airline announced on Tuesday.
Ground staff are scheduled to stop working at 3:45 a.m. on Wednesday and will not resume work until 6 a.m. on Thursday.
► Lufthansa is canceling a total of 678 flights at Frankfurt Airport, 32 of them on Tuesday. At the hub in Munich, there are a total of 345 flights on both days.
“The early escalation after just two days of negotiations in what has so far been a constructive round of collective bargaining is causing enormous damage,” said Lufthansa HR Director Michael Niggemann. Individual flight cancellations and delays are still possible on Thursday and Friday.
The background to this is the ongoing collective bargaining for employees at Lufthansa AG Boden, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Systems, Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services (LTLS), Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Service Gesellschaft (LSG) as well as LEOS (Lufthansa Engineering and Operational Services GmbH).
Ver.di boss is on vacation himself
One person will hardly notice the flight cancellations: Ver.di boss Frank Werneke (55). He’s already gone on vacation. A Ver.di spokesman confirmed BILD: Werneke is currently not available and is on vacation until August 12th.
In the middle of the summer holidays, the Ver.di boss is causing EVEN MORE holiday chaos at German airports! A number of employees will probably not be able to fly on their well-deserved vacation.
Germany
Werneke’s deputy Christine Behle (54) considers the flight chaos to be reasonable. She told BILD: “Unfortunately, a strike in air traffic always affects the passengers. We fully understand your frustration. However, the strain on the employees is currently almost unbearable.”
Outrage at the airport operator Fraport (including Frankfurt). Group CEO Stefan Schulte (62) to BILD: “It is completely disproportionate to jeopardize the vacation of hundreds of thousands with a strike during the most important travel season.”