Floor employees of the German airline Lufthansa LHA Employees walked off the job at main airports on Tuesday of their second strike this month, growing strain on wage negotiations that may proceed on Wednesday.
“If Lufthansa doesn’t notice that it now has to take an enormous step in the direction of us, then longer strikes will stay potential,” mentioned Verdi union chief negotiator Marvin Reschinsky.
Greater than 100,000 passengers can be affected by the strike, which is able to final till 7:10 a.m. (0610 GMT) on Wednesday, the airline mentioned.
Lufthansa mentioned it might solely function 10% of scheduled flights on the affected airports, which embody the nation's largest hub in Frankfurt, in addition to Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Duesseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart.
The primary flights had been canceled on Monday evening.
Germany, Europe's largest financial system, has been hit by a sequence of nationwide strikes affecting air journey, railways and public transport, as employees going through excessive inflation demand increased wages.
“The strikes in Germany are fairly annoying in the intervening time,” mentioned Martin Pilo, who had simply arrived from Singapore however was ready for baggage, whereas at one of many Frankfurt terminals, the place a lot of the Lufthansa check-in counters remained. closed.
The newest strike at Lufthansa comes after the airline offered a brand new pay provide for round 25,000 floor employees final week. Verdi referred to as the provide “blatantly delinquent.”
Verdi is demanding a wage improve of 12.5% or a minimum of 500 euros ($538.85) extra monthly over a 12-month interval, plus a one-time cost of three,000 euros to compensate for inflation.
These excessive calls for have change into crucial as a result of Lufthansa's floor employees have misplaced 10% of their buying energy in comparison with 2021, Verdi's Reschinsky mentioned.
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