Talks about a new corona crisis pact between Deutsche Lufthansa and the pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) have stalled.

At the end of the week, both sides announced the end of agreements.

The VC described it on Friday as "at this point in time completely wrong signal" that the group had unilaterally terminated a pact from 2017.

Timo Kotowski

Editor in business.

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This perspective agreement stipulated that at least 325 aircraft would be operated in the core group, which would secure jobs for 5,000 pilots.

The VC then terminated the collective wage agreement for pilots as of June 30, 2022. VC President Stefan Hertz accused the group of putting pressure on the group of employees with the pilots who had made the greatest contribution to the crisis during the pandemic through financial concessions.

However, pilots also earn more than flight attendants or ground staff.

Pilots complain of Lufthansa's "desirability"

“The pilots, with great loyalty to the company, have agreed to take a look at things and make major cuts,” says Hertz.

He accused Lufthansa of making too far-reaching demands for a new crisis pact: "The VC clearly rejects the desire to maintain these lowered conditions beyond the crisis."

For months, Lufthansa and pilots have been negotiating a follow-up agreement for the previous crisis pact, which expires at the end of March, without any results.

The group has long been in agreement with the other professional groups - flight attendants and ground staff.

And actually a solution should also be found with the pilots by the end of the year.

That now seems less likely.

If an agreement is not found, pilot strikes are possible when the collective wage agreement expires in the summer.

Group: Cannot maintain commitment

Lufthansa asserts that the negotiations did not fail.

Regarding the agreement, which ensures the employment of pilots in at least 325 aircraft at group tariff conditions, a group spokesman said: “We have now canceled the fleet commitment because we cannot maintain it.

Foreseeable there will be less demand. "

The Lufthansa fleet with the crane logo on the stern is shrinking.

In the past, however, VC had complained that capacities outside the group tariff were being built up under the Eurowings Discover brand for holiday flights and in the AeroLogic joint venture for cargo flights, in which Lufthansa holds 50 percent.

Germanwings pilots in particular are threatened with dismissal

In order to avoid redundancies in a Lufthansa group that had shrunk after the pandemic, the chairman of the board, Carsten Spohr, had repeatedly called for work-related dismissals to be averted through part-time agreements.

According to earlier information, up to 600 of the 5000 pilots should be redundant.

The VC claims to have made proposals.

However, no agreement has been reached until now.

Pilots from the Germanwings subsidiary are now in acute danger of being dismissed.

Lufthansa had already stopped operating them during the pandemic.

Although this happened prematurely because of the Corona crisis, it was planned in the corporate strategy anyway.

If there is no agreement on the conditions for the almost 400 Germanwings pilots to switch to other operating units, cancellations are possible from April onwards.

Social plan discussions had also led to the dispute there. As the magazine "Der Spiegel" reported, the pilots also suffered a setback. According to a ruling by the arbitration board called, Germanwings pilots who leave the group do not receive any severance pay. In the meantime, pilots were being sought for Eurowings Discover, among others, but on less favorable terms. This never met with approval from employee representatives, but Lufthansa points out that some of the employees have nevertheless accepted the new positions.

Lufthansa does not want to give up the chance of a speedy agreement this year.

The pilots were informed that 2022 threatened to start “with too many unanswered questions”.

VC President Hertz replied: "We expect a creative negotiating partner who will abandon completely wrong signals to the responsible collective bargaining partner VC in the future and get involved in progressive agreements."