Lufthansa pilots decided in favor of the strikes recommended by their trade union after the failure of collective bargaining with the employer. The central demand of employees is to increase employer contributions to corporate pension programs.

According to Cockpit, 88% of Lufthansa pilots and 96% of Lufthansa Cargo pilots voted in favor of a strike in the near future. Employers – workers’ main point of disagreement are corporate pensions of about 4,800 pilots, with the latter’s union demanding higher employer contributions to corporate pension programs. According to Cockpit, since the system change in 2017, the level of benefits has deteriorated due to low interest rates. Lufthansa, on the other hand, rejected the requests, arguing that they cannot be funded, with the result that after seven rounds of negotiations, the union declared the talks as failure. “Pensions are the central foundation of life planning for pilots (…) We are now expecting Lufthansa to take seriously the messages of its workforce and finally present a negotiable offer”said the spokesman for the pilots’ union in the collective bargaining Arne Carstens.

Lufthansa’s injurious airline is underway to restructure a program and Yens Riter CEO said there were no resources to give rise to corporate pension programs. Just yesterday, the Lufthansa Group announced its intention to cut about 4,000 administrative positions by 2030, due to previously unacceptable performance targets.