BERLIN
Striking Lufthansa pilots have warned of further industrial action this week if the airline's management refuse to compromise in the ongoing pensions row.
The warning came on Tuesday as the German carrier's pilots extended their strike to long haul flights across Germany on the second day of their walk out.
"If the employer would continue to show a lack of readiness for a compromise, we would not exclude taking additional industrial action until this conflict is resolved," Markus Wahl, spokesman for the Vereinigung Cockpit union, told Anadolu Agency.
"Of course, we hope that our message with this strike has been clear enough to bring Lufthansa again to constructive talks," he added.
About 166,000 air travellers are estimated to have been disrupted by the 35-hour strike, which began on Monday on short- and medium-haul flights and is set to end at 11:59 p.m. local time (21:59GMT) on Tuesday.
Lufthansa cancelled 1,450 flights planned for Monday and Tuesday, leaving about 700 scheduled to take off during the strike.
- Major disagreement
Legal action by Lufthansa to call off the strike failed late on Monday when a local labor court in the state of Hesse rejected the company’s lawsuit.
Wahl told AA that Lufthansa’s unsuccessful attempt to call of the strike through the courts was another sign of its lack of willingness to reach a compromise and agreement through negotiations.
“Lufthansa has lost for a seventh time at court since the beginning of the conflict,” Wahl said.
The pilots' union has been in conflict with Lufthansa for months due to a major disagreement over plans to change the existing pension scheme, which allows pilots to retire at the age of 59 - six years earlier than the official retirement age.
According to the union, Lufthansa wishes to change the agreement to two years before the official retirement age.
The union staged seven strikes this year at Frankfurt and Munich airports, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
www.aa.com.tr/en
