Ground staff of Lufthansa, are readying for yet another strike on Tuesday, 20 February 2024. It hasn’t been long since the last strike by ground staff of the airline earlier this month, when Germany’s airports witnessed several flight cancellations and disruptions. The staff walkout was to draw attention to their demand for a wage increment. As a result of the day long strike, Lufthansa had to cancel at least 80 per cent of its 1,000 flights, impacting over one lakh passengers. At the time, Verdi, representing the employees had said that it would consider extending the strike if the board of Lufthansa failed to fulfil the demands of the ground staff.
The negotiations and the offer made by Lufthansa were clearly not accepted by the trade union.
Tomorrow’s strike will begin at 4 a.m and end about the same time on 21 February. The strike will disrupt flights and inconvenience passengers at various airports, including Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Duesseldorf, Cologne, and Stuttgart.
Verdi, the German trade union, is demanding a wage hike of 12.5 per cent for about 25,000 ground staff, or a minimum payment of $537 more per month over a period of 12 months. Additionally, it is also seeking a one-time payment of about $3,000 to tackle the impact of inflation.
Germany has been witness to many strikes by workers from across sectors in recent times. They have all been demanding higher pay.
