20,000 Lufthansa employees go on strike in Germany

Trade union Verdi warns that 20,000 Lufthansa ground employees will be on strike from Wednesday to Thursday.

The ground staff will stop working on Wednesday at 03.45 and only resume at 06.00 on Thursday, writes picture.

Problems at airports won’t be reduced by this here, says aviation analyst Hans Jørgen Elnæs at Winair to TV 2.

low pay

The strike may also affect Norwegians, either directly or indirectly.

– It’s a bit hard to answer for the range now, but if they rule out a lot, one has to assume it will affect air traffic, not least in Frankfurt and Munich, where there are many stops, says Elnæs.

Lufthansa has several airlines in its portfolio, such as EuroWings, Swiss and Brussels Airlines, and is also part of the Star Alliance, along with SAS.

Many Norwegians may have read enough about the strikes this summer, but the aviation analyst understands that Lufthansa employees are sticking to their demands.

– Elnæs explains that airport employees are often in the lower wage bracket.

This supports Verdi’s claim that some employees earn less than the legal minimum wage of €12 an hour.

Elnæs points out that this contributed to the chaos we saw at European airports this summer. Many of the employees who disappeared during the pandemic have found jobs where they have better conditions.

Asking for a big salary increase

Verdi calls for a 9.5 percent wage increase for land employees, writes FAZ.netAs well as a minimum wage of 13 euros per hour.

– Then perhaps that is what is needed to get them back to work, says Elnæs.

Lufthansa is said to have made three counter-proposals, but these have so far been rejected as insufficient.

It doesn’t come close to compensating for inflation, says Verdi’s vice chairman Kristin Behle, who negotiates on behalf of employees.