Strike looms
April 5, 2010
Germany's biggest airline Lufthansa and the trade union Cockpit remain at loggerheads, as a second pilots' strike looms.
"So far, we have not received any notification from VC [Cockpit] calling off the strike," Lufthansa spokesman Klaus Walther told the news agency Reuters on Monday. Walther said in a separate interview that Cockpit had rejected the airline's calls for arbitration in a bid to avoid the strike.
A spokesman for Cockpit, which represents roughly 4,000 pilots, told the dpa news agency that the union had no intention of retracting its strike unless Lufthansa cedes some ground first.
"Lufthansa wants something from us," the spokesman said. "They want to save their company from problems, so it's up to them to make the first move. If they don't adjust their position, then we will definitely strike from April 13."
Strike two
The planned four-day strike action would be the second this year; in February roughly 2,000 flights were cancelled, even though the pilots went back to work early after pressure from a labor judge in Frankfurt. Lufthansa estimated the damages of this one-day strike at 48 million euros.
Lufthansa has already stated it might sue the Cockpit trade union for damages after the industrial action.
The major bone of contention is how wide-ranging talks on pay and conditions for Lufthansa pilots should be. Lufthansa wants to exclusively discuss the internal situation amongst the airline's core of roughly 4,500 pilots, and to discuss its sister companies - like budget airline German Wings - and their impact on Lufthansa pilots at a later date.
Cockpit is calling for immediate measures to protect Lufthansa from internal competition, as its own budget airline starts cutting into the main company's market share. Lufthansa is unwilling to widen the discussion like this, fearing such a move might jeopardize its freedom in the marketplace.
Cockpit says if its demands are not met, its pilots will renege on their agreement to a cost-cutting plan called "Climb 2011" and will return to their original demands of a 6.4 percent pay raise and improved working conditions.
msh/Reuters/dpa/AP
Editor: Rob Turner