Lufthansa ground staff to strike on Wednesday

BERLIN

Lufthansa ground staff will go on strike at major German airports, the Verdi trade union said on Monday.

Lufthansa employees to stop work from 4 a.m. local time (0300GMT) on Wednesday to 7.10 a.m (0610GMT) on Thursday at Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, and Dusseldorf airports, according to a statement.

The union’s negotiator Marvin Reschinsky heavily criticized Lufthansa for failing to come up with an acceptable offer during the second round of negotiations, and said the strike aims to raise pressure on the management.

“Lufthansa's ground personnel already have 10% less in their pockets than they did three years ago. Despite record profits, the management has come up with an offer which would only make things worse for the employees,” he said in a statement.

“This strike would be unnecessary if Lufthansa were to grant ground personnel the same increases as others. However, there was no willingness to do this at the negotiating table,” he added.

The union, which represents around 25,000 Lufthansa ground personnel, is demanding a 12.5%, and no less than €500 ($540), monthly wage hike, a one-time €3,000 ($3,250) bonus to offset a cost of living crisis.