BERLIN (Reuters) – Ground staff at German airline Lufthansa will go on strike on Wednesday, the Verdi union said on Monday, with workers demanding pay rises.
The strike is expected to start at 4 a.m. (0300 GMT) and last until 7 a.m. Thursday, the union said in a statement.
Airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf will be affected.
A Lufthansa spokesperson said it was too early to say how many flights would be canceled as the airline is implementing an emergency schedule, with around 3,000 flights per day potentially affected by the strike. .
“It is obvious that the number of canceled flights will be high,” said the spokesperson.
Ground handling is one of the branches of Lufthansa currently negotiating with the company to review collective agreements.
As part of these negotiations, Verdi is demanding a 12.5% wage increase for 25,000 workers, or at least 500 euros more per month over a 12-month period, plus a one-off payment of 3,000 euros to compensate for inflation.
The union argued that the increase in the cost of living and the heavy workload linked to staff shortages justified an increase in salaries.
During the last round of collective bargaining, in July 2022, Lufthansa ground staff stopped work and caused significant disruption to air transport.
(Report by Rachel More, by Corentin Chappron, edited by Kate Entringer)
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