BAt Lufthansa, further strikes by ground staff are off the table. The company and the Verdi union agreed on Thursday evening on a collective agreement with a term of 18 months. It provides for salary increases of at least 325 euros plus a further increase of 2.5 percent for the approximately 20,000 employees, as both sides reported.
According to Verdi, this results in salary increases of between 13.6 and 18.4 percent for individual employees at the check-in. Lufthansa even spoke of increases of 19.2 percent in the lowest salary bracket.
Verdi negotiator Christine Behle praised the result, which was not made dependent on Lufthansa profits. She said: “The result includes an adjustment for inflation and, in addition, a real wage increase. It was important to us to achieve this real balance in order to protect the employees in this economically difficult situation.”
Lower and middle income groups in particular benefit
Lufthansa Chief Human Resources Officer Michael Niggemann was confident that he could now come to an agreement with the pilots. Speaking of the degree for ground staff, he said: “It was important for us to give disproportionate attention to the lower and middle income groups. In this way, we meet our social responsibility for our employees and ensure our attractiveness as an employer.”
The talks were preceded by a nationwide warning strike on Wednesday last week, which paralyzed almost Lufthansa’s entire flight schedule. It cost Lufthansa around 35 million euros, as CFO Remco Steenbergen explained. In the event of non-agreement, the Verdi negotiator had already threatened further industrial action during the peak travel season.
For a period of twelve months, the union had consistently demanded salary increases of 9.5 percent, but at least 350 euros a month. The group originally wanted to make the increase in July 2023, which was now unconditionally paid, dependent on profit. Verdi successfully fended off this coupling. The company had declared in the morning that it was capable of an operating profit of 500 million euros again this year.
Draghi: Decision in the Lufthansa poker game about Ita Airways in ten days
Meanwhile, a decision on the takeover of the Italian airline Ita by the German group is also approaching. As Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced in Rome on Thursday evening, Italy wants to decide within ten days whether Lufthansa and its partner MSC Ita Airways can take over. This increases the chances of Lufthansa being successful in the protracted takeover game.
The German group and the MSC shipping company want to take over 80 percent of the shares in Ita Airways, Alitalia’s successor airline. The Italian state is currently the sole owner. In addition to Lufthansa/MSC, the US fund Certares is also interested, together with the airlines Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines.
Draghi allayed concerns that another delay could jeopardize the whole deal given the uncertain future following Italy’s snap elections on September 25. “It is not my concern to leave this to the next government,” he said of the privatization. “We must fulfill our duty to the end.”
Rome had actually aimed for a final decision on the sale weeks ago. Finance Minister Daniele Franco explained the delays that both prospective buyers recently had to adjust their offers on instructions from his ministry.
