Lufthansa Pilots End Strike
Damian HagertyThe pilots that work for Lufthansa kicked off a 4-day strike on Monday to push their case for German labor conditions to be applied to pilots hired abroad. They wanted this so their jobs wouldn’t be moved to neighboring countries, where they would make significantly less. They are also asking for a 6.4% increase in pay.
However, less than a day after the strike began, the pilots suspended the action. The suspension came after Lufthansa bosses told a labor court in Frankfurt that they would continue discussions on their staff’s worries without preconditions. Joerge Handwerg, a spokesman for the Cockpit union, said that the industrial action is now on hold until the 8th of March due to resuming the talks.
During the one day that the strike was in effect, some 10,000 passengers were disrupted worldwide. The airline had to ground at least 800 flights, and it was estimated that they lost about £20 million, an estimate the airline was said to lose every day of the strike.
Although the pilots returned to work on Tuesday, Lufthansa said that their services won’t be back to normal until Friday. They will be operating reduced services until then, because their pilots and planes are out of position due to the strike. It’s said that they were already operating 1,000 out of their 1,800 daily flights.
Lufthansa isn’t alone with striking workers. On Monday it was announced that the cabin crew for British Airways voted in favor of a strike, which they will have a date for later this week. Plus, air traffic control workers in France went on strike Tuesday over job cut fears. This strike is due to last 4 days.