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Ground staff at Frankfurt Airport in front of a Lufthansa plane

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Fabian Sommer / dpa

The Ver.di union has called on Lufthansa ground staff to go on an all-day warning strike on Wednesday. As the union announced, the strike is scheduled to begin on Wednesday at four a.m. and will affect the Lufthansa locations in Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf. The industrial action is scheduled to last until Thursday, February 8th at 7:10 a.m. "This strike would be unnecessary if Lufthansa gave ground employees the same increases as other employee groups in the company," said Ver.di's negotiator Marvin Reschinsky. However, there was no willingness to do this at the negotiating table. “We therefore hope that the passengers will understand, because, like the employees, they too want an end to the staff shortage and better service.”

The background to the strike call is the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations across the company for the approximately 25,000 employees on the ground. According to Ver.di, an inadequate offer has been submitted in the negotiations so far.

Specifically criticized are the eight zero months without compensation development at the beginning, the low increase increments, the 36-month term and completely unanswered demands. For example, the offer provides for an average increase of less than two percent in the first year, according to Ver.di. In addition, employees outside Lufthansa Technik should receive a lower inflation compensation bonus.

The union is demanding 12.5 percent more salary for Lufthansa's ground staff, which would correspond to at least 500 euros per month over a period of twelve months. There will also be a group-wide inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros for employees. The next round of negotiations will take place on February 12, 2024 in Frankfurt am Main.

Strikes by ground workers had a massive impact on flight operations during the last collective bargaining round. In July 2022, a strike by ground staff largely paralyzed air traffic at the Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.

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