Pilots of the German airline Lufthansa will stop working all day on Friday. Pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit announced the decision on Wednesday evening, after negotiations about a new collective labor agreement had stalled again.
Lufthansa and the union have been sitting around the table for weeks. The union wants a wage increase of 5.5 percent for the approximately 5000 pilots and officers this year and an automatic inflation correction from next year. In addition, there is a conflict about the airline’s future strategy. Lufthansa is setting up a new airline to take over some of the European flights. The pilots of this new airline, called Cityline 2, are not covered by the collective labor agreement and are paid less than their colleagues.
Negotiations with the pilots’ union broke down last week, after which strikes were announced. On Wednesday, a final attempt to reach an agreement failed.
Earlier, Lufthansa already held talks with the Ver.di union about a wage increase for ground staff. Both parties reached an agreement on this, with which further strikes and actions by about 20,000 ground workers are off the table. Lufthansa ground crews went on strike at the beginning of August. Then the group had to cancel more than a thousand flights.