From the BZ editorial team
The pilots’ association Cockpit (VC) has again called for a strike at the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings.
The pilots are to stop working from Monday midnight up to and including Wednesday, as the union announced on Friday evening in Frankfurt. Many federal states are then in the autumn holidays.
Reason for the strike: Negotiations on a general collective agreement have failed again, the union is demanding a reduction in the workload of the cockpit staff.
The maximum flight duty times would have to be limited and rest periods extended, the VC said. She described the latest offer from management as insufficient and non-negotiable.
The pilots had already struck Eurowings flight operations in a first wave on October 6 and canceled around half of the planned flights.
On average, the Lufthansa subsidiary operates around 500 flights to destinations in Germany and Europe every day. As a result, tens of thousands of passengers had to switch to other flights or the train – or postpone their journey. It was the third major walkout by Lufthansa Group employees this year.
The strike call applies again only to the German subsidiary of Eurowings, but not to Eurowings Europe, which is licensed in Austria, or to Eurowings Discover.
Once again, the decentralized airports in Germany outside the Munich and Frankfurt hubs are likely to be hit hardest. Eurowings had already described the first wave of strikes as disproportionate.
The union explained that it was about reducing the workload of employees in the cockpit.
“This strike would not be necessary if Eurowings negotiated with us on an equal footing,” said VC spokesman Matthias Baier. The employer is doing window dressing and seems to want to play for time.