Lufthansa has made a new offer to striking pilots in a bid to resolve the ongoing pay dispute, which has led to thousands of cancelled flights over the past seven days.
The German airline is now offering a “two-step” 4.4 per cent increase in pay, plus a one-off payment. Remuneration would be increased by 2.4 per cent for 2016 and a further 2 per cent for 2017. The latest offer is not linked to any other terms or conditions, the airline added.
Members of the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union (VC) are currently in the middle of a two-day strike. This followed walkouts last year and is part of a long-running battle over pay. The row centres around pay increases, with Lufthansa’s offer of 2.5 per cent described as “inadequate” by the pilots union. It is calling for a 3.7 per cent pay rise for 5,400 pilots dating back to 2012.
Lufthansa said it wants to meet with VC and resolve the situation as soon as possible. “We want to urgently avoid any further damage to our company and finally return to offering our passengers the kind of service they can expect from us,” said Harry Hohmeister, chief officer hub management of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, at a union information event. “And that’s why we submitted a new offer to the VC yesterday evening.”
Lufthansa said it’s “immediately available” to begin preparations for mediation on the Collective Labour Agreement on Remuneration together with the VC on the basis of this offer. “We want to get back to the negotiating table as quickly as possible,” stressed Bettina Volkens, chief officer corporate Human Resources & Legal Affairs of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
“As desired by the VC, we can then successively negotiate on all the currently-open collective labour agreement issues. And this in turn should lead us back to long-term industrial peace and a sound social partnership.”
The VC union has called on its members to take strike action on six days in total in the latest wave of strikes, which began on 23 November. Lufthansa has had to cancel some 4,450 flights as a result, affecting 525,000 travellers. “We assume that the VC will now end its strike action,” Hohmeister added, “and that we can return to normal flight operations from tomorrow onwards.”
VC has not yet responded to Lufthansa’s latest offer.