On Monday, trade union Verdi called on Lufthansa ground staff around Germany to go on warning strikes on Thursday and Friday, set to last a total of 59 hours.Â
According to Lufthansa, over 200,000 passengers will be affected. That means that, as with two previous airport strikes, around 1,000 flights will be axed per day and only around a tenth of the original number of flights can be operated.
READ ALSO: Lufthansa ground staff in Germany to stage airport strike from Thursday
When and where will there be strikes?
The warning strike for passenger-related areas started at 4 am on Thursday and end at 7:10 am on Saturday, Verdi announced.Â
On Tuesday, Verdi also called a strike for Thursday in passenger and goods control, cargo control and in service areas at Frankfurt and Hamburg airports.
Hamburg Airport had already announced that all departures will be cancelled on Thursday or that some will take off without passengers.
Flight cancellations or delays should also be expected for arrivals at the airport. Originally, 284 flights - 141 take-offs and 143 landings - with around 36,000 passengers were planned for Thursday. The airport is expecting many rebookings for Friday.
There will be also be no Lufthansa flights at Hanover Airport on Thursday and Friday.
"As with previous strikes, all Lufthansa connections to and from Munich and Frankfurt have been cancelled on Thursday and Friday," a spokeswoman for Hanover Airport told DPA.
The security staff at Düsseldorf Airport has also been on strike unannounced since Thursday morning. All passengers who had planned a flight from Düsseldorf on Thursday were asked to check their flight status with the airlines or tour operators before travelling, according to an airport spokesperson.
Why is there another strike?
With the strike by Lufthansa ground staff, Verdi wants to up the pressure on the airline ahead of the planned fifth round of collective bargaining scheduled March 13th and 14th.Â
Group-wide collective pay negotiations are continuing for the approximately 25,000 ground staff who, according to Verdi, work at Deutsche Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services, Lufthansa Engineering and Operational Services and other Group companies.Â
This encompasses around 20,000 employees, according to Lufthansa.
Through the security staff strike, Verdi also wants to signal that the current pay offer needs to be improved. In the five rounds of collective bargaining with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) to date, no agreement has been reached on higher wages for the approximately 25,000 employees in the sector nationwide.
Their talks will continue on March 20th.
What can passengers do now?
Passengers affected by flight cancellations as a result of the Verdi strike at Lufthansa will be informed by email or via the Lufthansa app, according to Lufthansa. It also advised passengers to check the current status of their flight - for example on its website.
In principle, customers can cancel flights which have been axed due to strikes and get their money back. The airline then has seven days to issue a refund. Those who still want to fly are entitled to a later flight.Â
However, it could take awhile for a flight to be rescheduled, considering that there are likely to be a backlog of requests.
READ ALSO: What are your rights in Germany if a flight is delayed or cancelled?
What is Verdi calling for?
In light of Lufthansa's record profits and the increase in workload for ground staff, Verdi is demanding a pay rise of 12.5 percent, but at least €500 per month for a period of twelve months. In addition, they're asking for a one-off inflation compensation bonus of €3,000.
Lufthansa recently offered an immediate pay increase of four percent as well as a simultaneous inflation compensation bonus of €2,000. This would be supplemented by a further tax-free €1,000 before Christmas and an additional salary increase of six percent a little later - a total of "over ten per cent sustainable salary increase in twelve months and €3,000 tax-free".
The airline's human resources chief Michael Niggemann said Lufthansa had repeatedly improved its offer and accused Verdi of "deliberately seeking escalation instead of a solution".
Yet chief Verdi negotiator Marvin Reschinsky said the strikes come at a time when ground workers are barely earning the minimum wage, yet Germany’s Lufthansa is boasting a high profit margin.
"Nobody can understand that this company will be announcing record annual results this week, that bonuses for board members will be increased substantially, and that ground employees with hourly wages of €13 in some cases no longer even know how to make ends meet in Germany's most expensive cities," said Reschinsky in a statement.
'Spate of strikes'
Earlier in the month, a one-day, Verdi-led strike of Lufthansa ground staff resulted in widespread disruption to the airline's schedule.
Some 100,000 passengers were impacted by the one-day strike, which grounded between 80 and 90 percent of the airline's commercial flights.
According to Lufthansa, the ongoing warning strikes have cost the company around €100 million so far this year. In addition, numerous customers have held back on bookings, said CFO Remco Steenbergen on Thursday.
Germany has been hit by a spate of strikes across varying sectors, including transport, the civil service and supermarkets. Those seeking long-distance train as an alternative to flying on Thursday or Friday will be hard hit, as Deutsche Bahn workers are also staging a 35 hour strike affecting passenger trains from 2 am on Thursday.
Pinched by inflation over the last years and in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, workers are demanding higher wages to cope with shrinking purchasing power.
READ ALSO: Why Germany is being hit by strikes almost every day
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