Lufthansa enters crunch week of talks with pilot union

Lufthansa enters crunch week of talks with pilot union

Deutsche Lufthansa AG enters decisive talks with its pilots union as the German airline races to reach an agreement by the end of the week to avert the threat of a strike during the crucial summer travel season.

Negotiating teams at Lufthansa and the VC pilots union meet on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday with the aim at ending a dispute over pay and working conditions. If a deal can’t be reached by Friday, the union will be free to ballot members on strike action.

Lufthansa made an offer last week to the union, which was rebuffed by labor representatives as “absolutely insufficient.” A spokesperson for the airline group said discussions continue and declined to comment further.

The pilots union said that while Lufthansa’s offer of an 8.5% pay increase appeared to meet its demands, the airline wanted that improvement to last for 30 months, whereas labor representatives want 12 months. Other major disagreements remain in areas including sickness leave, vacation entitlements and renumeration.

Pilot strikes are among most damaging industrial action an airline can face. While ground crew and cabin staff protests can lead to cancellations, pilots walking off their jobs often lead to the scrapping of entire flight schedules.

The stakes for Lufthansa are high. While the airline has structurally high costs that management says put it at a disadvantage against more nimble competitors, widespread strikes during the crucial summer travel season would complicate its recovery from the coronavirus bust.

The leadership team around Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr is particularly keen to avoid a repeat of a labor dispute with pilots that simmered over the past decade. The conflict led to a series of more than a dozen separate strikes, thousands of canceled flights and about €500 million in costs before the two sides hammered out a truce.