Lufthansa's cabin crew are causing the airline,- and others flying into the country,- some grief by calling a series of strikes in Germany at 6 hours notice. Strike-affected aircraft blocking stands yesterday caused the closure of Frankfurt airport to all inbound flights not already en route. A bit better than the US 9/11 immediate closure of all airspace to all inbound international flights even if already on their way, but still a problem which won't have pleased either Lufthansa's passengers or foreign carriers.
In an effort to control costs and get Lufthansa's legacy airline wage rates down and a bit closer to new norms, the airline has had a successful 3 year pay freeze. So far so sensible. Now the unions would like to claw some of that back with a 5% increase covering 14 months. The company,keen to hang on to its modest structural gain, has offered three and a half percent. Not a big difference, but over time the effect of a point or two builds and builds and the gap between the legacy carrier and the newcomers and many foreigners again becomes unsustainable.
That's why Lufthansa wants to dig in , BA style of 2 years ago, and take the pain until the union gives up. Against it doing so are of course the union itself and to varying degrees a German public who say that the disruptions , as well as being an impediment to business, are a stain on the national image of efficiency and everything functioning like clockwork as well as just a serious nuisence. The airline, which unlike BA is seen as very much an icon of Germany and necessary to its working, will therefore come under increasing pressure to "get round the table " in British parlance. That's a thinly coded way of saying "Give in and pay them the money". Lufthansa needs to firmly say "Nein!" and sweat it out. If it doesn't, many of its employees could find themselves knocking on the door of Air Berlin and others somewhere down the line. Have they not noticed that Lufthansa has also declared 3,500 redundancies and a halt to expansion?
In an effort to control costs and get Lufthansa's legacy airline wage rates down and a bit closer to new norms, the airline has had a successful 3 year pay freeze. So far so sensible. Now the unions would like to claw some of that back with a 5% increase covering 14 months. The company,keen to hang on to its modest structural gain, has offered three and a half percent. Not a big difference, but over time the effect of a point or two builds and builds and the gap between the legacy carrier and the newcomers and many foreigners again becomes unsustainable.
That's why Lufthansa wants to dig in , BA style of 2 years ago, and take the pain until the union gives up. Against it doing so are of course the union itself and to varying degrees a German public who say that the disruptions , as well as being an impediment to business, are a stain on the national image of efficiency and everything functioning like clockwork as well as just a serious nuisence. The airline, which unlike BA is seen as very much an icon of Germany and necessary to its working, will therefore come under increasing pressure to "get round the table " in British parlance. That's a thinly coded way of saying "Give in and pay them the money". Lufthansa needs to firmly say "Nein!" and sweat it out. If it doesn't, many of its employees could find themselves knocking on the door of Air Berlin and others somewhere down the line. Have they not noticed that Lufthansa has also declared 3,500 redundancies and a halt to expansion?
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