- Airline personnel opt for a work stoppage at a Lufthansa affiliate.
Lufthansa vacation flight operator Discover encounters potential strike warnings. In separate ballots, associates from the UFO and Cockpit unions have endorsed industrial action. A strike date wasn't disclosed on Wednesday.
The two professional unions for pilots and cabin crew are collaborating closely to invalidate the current parallel collective bargaining agreements of the opposition union Verdi with the company. Their goal is to enforce their own collective bargaining agreements instead.
According to the Fundamental Law, an organization's employees have the right to choose their representatives. The members of Cockpit have unmistakably expressed their refusal to allow the employer side to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with a preferred union without their approval, elaborated Cockpit's collective bargaining expert Marcel Gröls.
At UFO, 91.8% of participants voted in favor of industrial action. Among Discover pilots associated with Cockpit, it was 81%, as the union revealed.
Once the approval of the corresponding members is secured, open-ended strikes are now permitted on Discover Airlines flights. The airline operates 27 aircraft from Munich and Frankfurt to vacation spots across Europe and overseas. The fleet is expected to expand to 33 aircraft by mid-2027, as per the company's announcement.
For strategic reasons, the unions are evasive about the specifics of the planned industrial action. However, it is evident that pilots and cabin crew intend to synchronize their efforts. Strikes at the much larger Lufthansa cannot be ruled out by the unions.
In response to the potential strike warnings, Cockpit's collective bargaining expert stated the necessity of measuring the force of their stance, emphasizing the need for proper [Measurement of force] to negotiate effectively with Lufthansa. Given the high voting percentages in favor of industrial action among both UFO and Discover pilots and cabin crew, it's clear that rigorous [Measurement of force] will be crucial in negotiations to come.
