- Title: Lufthansa pilot strikes announced after talks fail
- Date: 28th November 2016
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) WIDE OF LUFTHANSA MACHINES AT AIRPORT VARIOUS OF LUFTHANSA PLANES AIRPORT INTERIOR WITH DEPARTURES BOARD LUFTHANSA INITIALS ON DEPARTURE BOARD VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS AT SELF CHECK-IN COUNTERS WIDE OF AIRPORT WITH DEPARTURES BOARD IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (German) PILOTS' UNION VEREINIGUNG COCKPIT (VC) SPOKESMAN, JOERG HANDWERG, SAYING: "Our channels are always open. We are always ready for dialogue and if Lufthansa approaches us with a reasonable offer we could be ready to negotiate at very short notice and of course, if an acceptable offer were to follow, it would be possible to call off the strike measures ahead of time. But first they have to come to us with something actually substantial." (SOUNDBITE) (German) LUFTHANSA SPOKESMAN, MARTIN LEUTKE, SAYING: "From our side I can only say that Lufthansa is open to further talks at any time. And we will continue to work towards trying to find a compromise that both parties can agree on. We have made several offers that have all been rejected by Vereinigung Cockpit, who have instead chosen to call more strikes. This cannot be the solution." (SOUNDBITE) (German) PILOTS' UNION VEREINIGUNG COCKPIT (VC) SPOKESMAN, JOERG HANDWERG, SAYING: "We have been negotiating for four years now and Lufthansa had the repeated, almost daily, chance to offer a compromise, so we do not accept the accusation that we are not open to compromise. We have been through many, many rounds with Lufthansa and have tried over and over again to attempt a reset and we have still not been presented with a reasonable offer." (SOUNDBITE) (German) LUFTHANSA SPOKESMAN, MARTIN LEUTKE, SAYING: "Vereinigung Cockpit has insisted on its demands for a wage increase of 20 percent despite the fact that, with their annual increase of, on average, 3 percent, they already count amongst the very well paid pilots, both if you compare internationally as compared to other pilots within Lufthansa and that is why the talks keep failing and VC has refused to talk to us and has called for further strikes." LUFTHANSA SELF CHECK IN COUNTERS TRAYS WIDE OF AIRPORT INTERIOR
- Embargoed: 13th December 2016 11:06
- Keywords: Lufthansa VC strikes Frankfurt
- Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- City: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA0015ACYX71
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit on Monday (November 28) announced further strikes at Lufthansa for Tuesday and Wednesday, after fresh talks at the end of a four-day walkout failed to settle their long-running pay dispute.
The latest round of strikes will affect short-haul flights on Tuesday, November 29, and short- and long-haul flights out of Germany on Wednesday, November 30, VC said.
Last week Lufthansa had to cancel nearly 2,800 flights during a four-day strike from Wednesday that affected more than 350,000 passengers, the 14th walkout in a dispute that since early 2014 has cost the carrier hundreds of millions of euros.
Lufthansa has offered to increase the pilots' pay by 4.4 percent in two installments and make a one-off payment worth 1.8 months' pay. The union wants an average annual pay rise of 3.7 percent for 5,400 pilots over a five-year period backdated to 2012.
Strikes by the pilots cost Lufthansa 222 million euros ($235 million) in 2014, according to the IW Cologne Institute for Economic Research, while in 2015 walkouts by pilots and cabin crew cost the airline 231 million euros.
Lufthansa said it had taken another 20 million-euro hit in the first two days of last week's strike. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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