No agreement with ground staff: Lufthansa breaks off savings negotiations

Lufthansa, which has meanwhile been partially nationalized, cannot agree on a joint savings contribution with the ground staff. Verdi is offering a € 600 million red pen, but in return wants to forego layoffs.

At Lufthansa, collective bargaining over Corona savings contributions from the ground staff failed for the time being. It was decided not to continue the negotiations for the time being, said a company spokeswoman. "We're not seeing any progress right now." But they will return to the negotiating table if the union should "submit an offer with significant savings in personnel costs". The savings of around 600 million euros offered so far were not sufficient to cope with the worsening crisis.

"The refusal is a slap in the face of the employees," said the vice-chairman of Verdi and vice-head of the Lufthansa supervisory board, Christine Behle. She pointed to the state aid of around nine billion euros with which the group had to be saved. "Against this background in particular, it is absolutely unacceptable that the group is demanding serious income cuts on the part of its employees without giving guarantees in return for protecting employment or for taking measures to reduce jobs in a socially acceptable manner." The federal government must now exercise its influence, demanded Behle.

Verdi represents around 35,000 ground staff and, according to its own account, has promised savings contributions of around 600 million euros. In return, Lufthansa is not prepared to offer effective protection against dismissal. The agreements should be terminable within two weeks. "It's like insurance that doesn't pay in the event of damage," said Verdi negotiator Mira Neumaier. Lufthansa has agreed a similar exit clause for around 22,000 flight attendants with the UFO union. The board of directors nevertheless recommends its members in a ballot to accept the restructuring collective agreement. In terms of pilots, Lufthansa and the Cockpit Association have not yet found each other. In the event of failure, Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr has not ruled out redundancies for operational reasons.

The partially nationalized Lufthansa Group had put its global surplus of personnel at 22,000 full-time positions after the Corona slump, of which around 11,000 are in Germany. In the medium term, the group expects a fleet that will be reduced by 100 jets. In addition to the sale of the LSG Sky Chefs catering division, which has already been initiated, a (partial) sale of the maintenance subsidiary Lufthansa Technik is seen as an opportunity to repay the billions in government aid.