BERLIN (Reuters) – Ground staff at German airline Lufthansa will go on strike on Tuesday, the Verdi union said on Sunday as workers demand pay rises.
The strike is expected to start at 4 a.m. (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday and end at 7:10 a.m. (06:10 GMT) on Wednesday, the union said.
The airports of Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart will be affected by the walkout.
Michael Niggemann, member of the Lufthansa board of directors in charge of human resources, considered this strike regrettable because he believes that the German carrier made an “ambitious” offer – rejected by Verdi – during the negotiations and that it will cause inconvenience to customers and staff.
A similar strike led to the cancellation of 900 flights out of 1,000 at the beginning of February and impacted around 100,000 passengers.
Verdi is demanding a 12.5% pay increase for 25,000 ground employees, or at least 500 euros more per month over a 12-month period, plus a one-off payment of 3,000 euros to compensate for inflation.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has been hit by several nationwide strikes affecting air travel, railways and public transport.
(Reporting Ilona Wissenback and Alexander Ratz, written by Sarah Marsh; French version Kate Entringer)
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