February 17, 2010
Pilots for Lufthansa and two of its subsidiaries voted Wednesday to hold a four-day strike next week, raising the prospect of delays and cancellations for customers of the largest German airline.
The Cockpit Association, which represents about 4,500 pilots at Lufthansa and two subsidiaries, said that 94 percent of members had voted to strike. Work would cease from just after midnight Monday to midnight Thursday and affect flights by Lufthansa as well as the Lufthansa Cargo unit and the no-frills carrier, Germanwings.
The airline and the union broke off talks in December after failing to reach agreement on the pilots’ demand that Lufthansa promise not to lay off any cockpit crew.
The pilots said that the airline, which uses Frankfurt International Airport as its main hub, wants to shift passengers to subsidiaries like Austrian Airlines and British Midland, which pay their flight crews less.
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Jörg Handwerg, a pilot and spokesman for the union, said that the pilots would consider forsaking a pay raise in return for job guarantees. “For us job security is crucial,” Mr. Handwerg said during an interview by telephone. “We want to keep the jobs in Germany.”
Lufthansa said in a statement that it is ready to offer assurances on jobs, but that pilots made other unacceptable demands. “The union also insisted on a greater say on fundamental entrepreneurial issues, equating to intervention in business management at the airline,” Lufthansa said. “That demand cannot be accepted.”
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