Industrial action by Lufthansa cabin crew has become more likely after negotiations about future working conditions with the flight attendant union UFO failed last week.
The German carrier wants to increase productivity of its cabin crew staff and merge its European mainline operations with its low-cost subsidiary Germanwings under its internal 'direct4U' project by 1 January 2013. Management and the union have been locked in discussions about wage increases and working terms for one year.
But negotiations over working conditions have ended without a resolution, UFO says, after the airline's proposal "exceeded its worst expectations". Lufthansa says it wants to make another offer this week, but its proposal will focus solely on salary increases.
UFO chairman Nicoley Baublies tells Flightglobal that the move is merely a delaying tactic, as wages are the only item among the union's demands which flight attendants have the ability to strike over.
Downplaying expectations of a satisfactory offer from Lufthansa, he says any salary increase would come without changes to existing working regulations, thereby amounting to a deterioration of productivity levels from the present situation.
Baublies adds that industrial action could take place next week at the earliest, though no decision has been taken over timing. UFO members voted overwhelmingly in favour of strikes earlier this month if no agreement can be reached with the airline.
A sticking point in the disagreement is the use of external cabin crew members on the airline's future European network. While UFO supports the merger between Lufthansa's continental operations and Germanwings, it wants staff to be employed under a mainline contract. Lufthansa wants the flight attendants to be externally hired under new terms and conditions.
Baublies expects these to be temporary contracts with salaries capped at the level currently offered by Germanwings.
Separately, plans by Lufthansa to employ temporary staff as cabin crew for its short-haul base in Berlin appears to have faltered. According to UFO, the carrier has only been able to find enough flight attendants for two of the planned eight Airbus A320s.
The aircraft were to be stationed at the new Berlin Brandenburg International airport for its planned opening in June, but delays at the hub have seen the launch of operations postponed to 2013.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
