In the collective bargaining dispute between Verdi and Lufthansa, both sides want arbitration (archive photo).
Source: dpa
In the ongoing tariff dispute between Lufthansa and Verdi, both sides are now in favor of arbitration. Lufthansa announced this on Thursday, and a Verdi spokeswoman confirmed the intention to mediate in response to a dpa request.
In the last round of negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday, the airline and the union were unable to agree on a new collective wage agreement for the approximately 20,000 ground employees of Deutsche Lufthansa, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Cargo and other companies.
The arbitration proceedings should now be concluded as quickly as possible. There should be a peacekeeping obligation during the mediation.
During the last strike by ground staff and some of the security staff at Lufthansa, the airline assumed that only 10 to 20 percent of flights could be carried out.07.03.2024 | 0:16 minutes
Lufthansa: “Coming closer to a solution”
Michael Niggemann, Chief Human Resources Officer and Labor Director at Deutsche Lufthansa AG, says that over the past two days the group has “submitted numerous different variants and solutions in intensive discussions and discussed them with Verdi.” The parties came closer to a solution, but it was not yet enough to reach a conclusion.
Together we now want to clarify the outstanding issues through mediation in order to then reach an agreement.
Michael Niggemann, Deutsche Lufthansa AG
It was agreed not to disclose the content of the discussions and the variants discussed.
Hundreds of Lufthansa flights have recently been canceled
Last week, hundreds of Lufthansa flights were canceled due to a warning strike by ground staff. For passengers, however, an agreement in the ground staff’s collective bargaining dispute would only mean a small relief, as several collective bargaining disputes in German air transport are still open. For example, it is still unclear when the airline’s negotiations with the UFO union will begin after the cabin crew’s strikes in Frankfurt and Munich continue this week.
Source: ZDF, Reuters, dpa