A German labor union, Ver.di, has urged Lufthansa ground staff to participate in a one-day strike at seven airports on Tuesday, marking an escalation following a previous disruption earlier this month.
The strike, scheduled from 4 a.m. Tuesday to 7:10 a.m. Wednesday, will impact Lufthansa’s main hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, as well as airports in Berlin, Duesseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne-Bonn, and Stuttgart. In a similar strike on Feb. 7, five of these airports experienced a 27-hour walkout, leading to the cancellation of numerous flights.
Ver.di is advocating for pay raises of 12.5% or a minimum of €500 ($539) per month in negotiations affecting approximately 25,000 employees, including check-in, aircraft handling, maintenance, and freight staff. The use of several-hour or one-day “warning strikes” is a common strategy in German contract negotiations.
Despite talks on Feb. 12 yielding no agreement, more negotiations are scheduled for Wednesday to address the ongoing dispute between the labor union and Lufthansa.
