Lufthansa ground staff to stage strike at seven German airports on Tuesday

A UNION IN Germany has called on ground staff for Lufthansa to strike at seven airports on Tuesday following a similar walkout earlier this month.

The Ver.di union said today that the one-day strike will affect the airports in Frankfurt and Munich, Lufthansa’s two main hubs, as well as Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart.

It will run from 4am local time on Tuesday until 7:10am Wednesday.

A 27-hour strike at five of the same airports that started on 7 February prompted the airline to cancel hundreds of flights.

The union is seeking pay raises of 12.5%, or at least €500 euros more per month, for 25,000 employees, including check-in, aircraft handling, maintenance and freight staff.

A round of talks on 12 February produced no agreement and more negotiations are scheduled for Wednesday.

Among sticking points were what the union said were an overly low pay offer made to the staff in comparison to other employee categories such as pilots.

“While the company is offering pilots with annual basic wages of up to €270,000 euros raises reaching two-digit figures, ground staff are unable to break even given the inflation of the last years,” said Verdi’s lead negotiator Marvin Reschinsky.

“We don’t want this escalation. We want a quick result for employees and passengers,” said the union.

More than 100,000 passengers are expected to be impacted by the walkout, said Lufthansa in a separate statement, adding it was drawing up an alternative flight plan.

The airline’s human resource chief Michael Niggemann blasted the union’s decision, saying the action would once again “put a disproportionate burden on our guests”.

With reporting from AFP and Press Association. 

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