Lufthansa talks with unions as strike grounds 1,300 flights | Buzz travel

Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, met the top representatives of Verdi and CU (Cabin Union) for a joint exchange on Wednesday evening.

Carsten Spohr commented on the outcome of the meeting:

“After the constructive and successful top-level discussion with Verdi and CU, we now see ourselves in the position to enter into talks with all three groups.

In the interest of our customers and employees, this explicitly includes talks with Ufo – with the aim to agree on the arbitration offered by Ufo yesterday.”

A 48-hour strike among Lufthansa staff began on Thursday, grounding roughly 1,300 flights and affecting some 180,000 passengers.

700 flights from the main group’s schedule of 1,100 were axed on Thursday, with a further 600 flights scheduled for Friday hit.

Trade union Ufo has vowed more strikes in the near future, If a solution is not found in the coming days. The last regular strike on the core Lufthansa brand lasted a week, the longest in the company’s history.

The strike action is aimed at obtaining higher expenses and allowances for approximately 21,000 flight crew, as well as improved career possibilities among seasonal workers.

The union, though, will not extend the strike to other airlines in the Lufthansa group such as Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian or Brussels Airlines.