GERMANY: Lufthansa and Cockpit no closer to an agreement as Lufthansa pilots' strike kicks off.

Record ID: 338804

  • Title: GERMANY: Lufthansa and Cockpit no closer to an agreement as Lufthansa pilots' strike kicks off.
  • Date: 10th February 2010
  • Summary: MUNICH AIRPORT, MUNICH, GERMANY (FEBRUARY 22, 2010) (REUTERS) OVERHEAD VIEW OF PASSENGERS IN AIRPORT VARIOUS OF DEPARTURE BOARD SHOWING CANCELLATIONS PASSENGER LOOKING AT DEPARTURES BOARD PASSENGER WALKING AWAY FROM BOARD PASSENGERS QUEUING AT CHECK-IN PASSENGERS AT SELF-CHECK-IN
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Industry,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVADDEAFZCBC0FND3FPBLHSVF4EZ
  • Story Text: Germany's flagship carrier, Lufthansa has been forced to cancel hundreds of flights across the country as Lufthansa pilots on Monday (February 22) began their four-day strike.

    Passengers left stranded by the strike that started at midnight local time are being rebooked on other airlines or have to take trains for domestic travel, after last-ditch attempts to reach a compromise failed over the weekend.

    In the southern German airport of Munich passengers were mostly understanding about the situation but were experiencing delays.

    Hans-Dieter Willem saw his journey extended over two days instead of the one it usually takes.

    "It has affected us because we have to travel for two days instead of one day. Usually we can do the journey from Scandinavia in a day but now we have to have one overnight stop," Willem said.

    "I don't think it's right what they are doing. Last year they got a significant amount of money and now they want to strike again. They will not be able to stop foreign airlines finding a niche here. It will happen anyway," he added.

    Lufthansa expects the strike will cost it about 100 million euros ($135 million) in cash, in addition to lost ticket sales and possible damage to its reputation now that it will ground about 800 flights per day over a four-day period.

    European travellers could face additional headaches, as Monday is also the final day of a cabin crew strike ballot at rival British Airways that could cast travel in Europe's second-biggest economy into turmoil as well.

    Brawn Van Mulheim, was hoping his journey was not going to stretch any longer.

    "We come from New York and now we are going to Brussels, well I hope we are going to Brussels eventually. I have understanding for the concerns of the pilots, but we would just like to get home after such a long flight," Mulheim said.

    Some 4,000 German pilots voted for the strike at Lufthansa on concerns the company could try to cut staff costs by shifting jobs to foreign subsidiaries such as Austrian Airlines or Lufthansa Italia, where wages are lower.

    The starting salary for a first officer in a Lufthansa cockpit is 62,000 euros, for a captain 115,000 euros, according to the company's recruiting website. Media reports put the top end of pilots' salaries at about 325,000 euros.

    Spokesmen for the pilots' union Cockpit and for Lufthansa were at Frankfurt Airport to give comment.

    According to Cockpit spokesperson, Alexander Gerhard-Madjidi, Lufthansa is to blame for the hold-up in negotiations.

    "The offer of Lufthansa to negotiate is not a real offer. We offered Lufthansa the possibility of leaving Lufthansa's foreign subsidiaries out of the negotiations, like they asked us to. Albeit with the precondition that we let a court decide what the legal situation really is. But Lufthansa is obviously not prepared to do that, because they know what the outcome of the review will be," he said.

    Lufthansa, however, said Cockpit was showing intransigence over a prospective compromise.

    "We also signalled an unconditional willingness to negotiate," said Lufthansa spokesman Klaus Walter.

    "The only pre-condition that is in the room is the demand by Cockpit that basically says that German tariff law should be applied abroad. That is absolutely non-negotiable and legally questionable. If Cockpit would agree to take this demand out of the negotiations and signalled that they were open to negotiate then we could start talks immediately, about job security for German Lufthansa pilots - also in the long-term. So far not a single job has been relocated to one of Lufthansa's foreign subsidiaries, in fact the opposite, 20 percent more jobs have been created in Cockpit through the successful union with the new foreign subsidiaries we have abroad," Walter added.

    Lufthansa's pilots have offered to forego pay increases if in return they get some control over which routes or pilot jobs are transferred to other group airlines. Lufthansa has rejected that demand, saying it would require ceding control over parts of business strategy to its workers and the union.

    Germany's economic recovery stalled at the end of 2009, and workers are becoming increasingly concerned that they could lose their jobs. They are looking to employers to promise job security in exchange for concessions on pay, as carmaker Volkswagen has.

    Engineering sector workers have also accepted moderate wage increases to help boost employment prospects.

    Over the weekend, the pilots' union offered new talks, but Lufthansa said it would not resume negotiations unless the union dropped demands for what it saw as undue influence on managerial decisions, leaving the two parties in a stalemate.

    Shares in Lufthansa were down 1.34 percent at 1004 GMT.

    ENDS
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