Lufthansa’s German flight-attendant union UFO is threatening industrial action after talks in preparation for an arbitration process broke down for the second time this month.
Lufthansa’s German flight-attendant union UFO is threatening industrial action after talks in preparation for an arbitration process broke down for the second time this month.
UFO says Lufthansa prematurely withdrew from the discussions on 27 November, two days after they began.
The union’s deputy chief, Daniel Flohr, said during a webcast today that the two sides had agreed on all but “0.01%” of topics. But he complains that Lufthansa provided no “binding legal security” regarding previous action by the airline against himself, UFO chief Sylvia De La Cruz, and the union’s former chief, Nicoley Baublies, who is involved in the negotiations as a “representative”.
While wage negotiations between Lufthansa and UFO have been going on for some time, the dispute escalated in 2018 after the union’s selection of De La Cruz and Flohr as leaders. Lufthansa questioned the legality of that selection, and in August 2019 disclosed that it had asked the Hessian state labour court to review UFO’s trade-union status.
On 22 November – following the breakdown of the first arbitration attempt – Lufthansa said it would withdraw the legal action as “a signal of de-escalation” and to “open up solution areas in a difficult, deadlocked situation”.
However, Flohr insists that the search for a solution will not be pursued “without knowing where we stand legally”.
Lufthansa has declined to comment on its stance toward the three union figures, arguing that “individual contractual arrangements cannot be connected with the question of whether or not a tariff arbitration process is launched”.
In a separate statement, the airline says it is open to a “comprehensive” arbitration process that covers issues at subsidiaries Eurowings, Germanwings and CityLine, even if UFO does not commit to a “peace obligation” at these operators during the process.
Lufthansa withdrew from the previous arbitration attempt – agreed in principle for the German mainline – because, it said, UFO had not committed to a peace obligation at the three subsidiaries or the Frankfurt-based operation of SunExpress, its leisure joint venture with Turkish Airlines.
The two sides have agreed to proceed with a “small” arbitration process that covers only pay issues at Lufthansa’s mainline.
UFO says it remains open to comprehensive arbitration, but warns it is also making preparations for “further industrial action” during the remaining part of this year and 2020.
The union called strikes at Lufthansa last month and earlier this month.
