Unions are preparing for another strike at the Discover Airlines holiday airline
Two unions within the Lufthansa group are preparing the next strike at holiday airline Discover Airlines. Both the pilots' union, Vereinigung Cockpit, and the cabin crew union, UFO, have announced that they will begin coordinated votes on Thursday, August 15th, aiming for a joint agreement to improve working conditions. The vote on industrial action will end on Wednesday, August 21st.
The background to this is the collective agreement between Discover and the rival union Verdi, which the two unions not involved in the negotiations believe represents only a small number of the approximately 1900 employees in the flying personnel. "A non-legitimate employee representation has been put into office by management," says UFO's tariff expert Harry Jaeger.
Lufthansa and Verdi have agreed on wage and framework collective agreements that will apply until the end of 2027. These include wage increases, allowances, and special payments, as well as provisions for company pension schemes, duty plans, or sickness benefit supplements. Discover operates 27 aircraft from Frankfurt and Munich on tourist routes.
UFO and VC could now try to enforce their own competing collective agreements at Discover through strikes. Only then would it be necessary to check which union has more members in the company. A previous membership count was suggested, but Lufthansa has not reacted to this proposal.
The company currently sees no reason to act. "We have a social partner in Verdi and a concluded tariff agreement. Our focus is now on implementing and enforcing the tariff agreement," a spokesperson explained.
The VC pilots have already gone on strike at Discover during the past winter for the first collective agreements, while UFO called for a strike to even enter negotiations with the company.
For Verdi, the agreement is a success because they have so far only been significantly represented among ground staff and in the Eurowings cabins within the Lufthansa group. They have only achieved a collective agreement for pilots at the cargo subsidiary Aerologic.
The unions, Vereinigung Cockpit and UFO, believe that the agreement between Discover and rival union Verdi does not adequately represent the majority of its flying personnel, and they are preparing to discover potential support for their own collective agreements through strikes. Despite the ongoing strikes and negotiations, Discover sees no immediate reason to engage with UFO and VC, as they consider Verdi as their social partner and the agreement with them as their primary focus.
