by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 22, 2016 | Featured, Italy, Passenger Experience, Strike |
Capping a stretch of on-again, off-again strikes over the past few weeks, Italian Air Traffic Controllers and some Airline staff are set to walk off their jobs Saturday, July 23 from 1:00p to 5:00p local time.
Those that are striking include airport staff in Rome, Milan Linate, and Milan Malpensa. In addition to the airport employees, it also appears that Alitalia staff in Rome will also join the 4 hour walk-out.
According to EuroControl, this strike will not impact flights overflying Italy or Intercontinental flights (arrivals and departures).
If your travels involve regional or European flights to or from Italy, you may want to check with your airline or travel agent to determine the strikes impact on your itinerary.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 8, 2016 | Corporate, Featured, Lufthansa, Strike |
Finally…..
After months and years of squabbling and strikes, Lufthansa has announced that it has reached a binding long-term agreement with UFO, the union that represents most of Lufthansa’s cabin crew employees.
The new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is in place until June 30, 2019 with further agreements that guarantee salary increases, employment guarantees, and pension enhancements beyond that date:
Cabin crew will receive a 1% raise on October 1, with an additional 2% raise on January 2018.
A shift in pensions programs from a defined benefit program to a defined contribution program. This reduces fiscal liability to Lufthansa, who will contribute 5.2% of an employees salary annually towards their pension benefit. Employees can still retire at age 55.
A conflict resolution process has been put in place through 2023.
Current cabin crew have employment guarantees through 2021. Lufthansa will not be able to hire non-union cabin crew for Lufthansa Airlines until 2023.
by Lufthansa Flyer | May 24, 2016 | Featured, Industry News, Lufthansa, Strike, Vereinigung Cockpit |
Late last week, Lufthansa and Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) ‘quietly’ agreed to work towards an agreement that would finally put an end to strikes by Lufthansa pilots.
Over the last few months you’ve noticed relative peace between LH and VC as both sides have been negotiating on several levels to reach an agreement that would protect pilot benefits as well as the Airline’s interest. To that end, there have been several separate groups negotiation a variety of issues. Going forward, both sides agreed to consolidate their efforts into one major push and have committed to having issues resolved and new agreements in place by the end of July.
What does this mean?
As long as both sides agree to work together and not pull any surprises, I suspect that we will have little to no risk of service disruptions due to striking pilots this summer. Odds for a deal have improved dramatically once the union provided concessions to the compensation structure for pilots, while LH committed to expanded career opportunities for pilots.
The only time strikes would be called would be when the union had a temper tantrum and wanted to send a message to the airline and its passengers. It appears that they are well past this, and are finally realizing that the best outcome is to get a deal done.
Hopefully the peace lasts……
by Lufthansa Flyer | Apr 26, 2016 | Featured, Lufthansa, Strike |
As I mentioned a few days ago, one of Germany’s largest unions thought it would be wise to call a nationwide strike of public sector workers. To that end, airports will bear the brunt of the work stoppage as aircraft handlers, airport fire safety personnel and a myriad of other staff will strike for most of the day on Wednesday. As it stands now, the strike at Munich will cover the the entire day while Frankfurt will see a work stoppage only through 3p on the 27th. Other main German airports including Dusseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund, and Hannover will also see widespread disruptions. Bremen was selected to be the target of the strike on Tuesday, April 26.
To deal with the disruptions, Lufthansa has published a special timetable for April 26-27 that reflects the cancellation of a substantial number of flights. Passengers impacted by the strike have the option to rebook their flights, or use an alternative method of travel including bus and train (assuming they’re not on strike!). LH has set up a dedicated webpage that addresses the impact of the strike, along with a tool to check if your flight is affected. If you booked your travel through a travel agent, you should contact them directly to assist you.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jan 24, 2016 | Featured, Lufthansa, Strike, UFO |
Late last week, Lufthansa announced that it had agreed to enter arbitration with UFO. For those of you not familiar with UFO, they are the union that represents Lufthansa’s cabin crews.
The new agreement promises labor peace between UFO and LH until June 30th at which point this arbitration agreement is set expire. This latest agreement for arbitration is important to both sides because their previous ‘band-aid’ agreement expires on September 30. Last year, LH and UFO reached agreements on several points, however there are still a few agreements that need to be reach in order to have a long term labor agreement in place.
From what I’ve read, it seems that both sides are optimistic that a deal will be reached and perhaps for the first time in a long time, we can book travel without the shadows of strikes in the background.
