German union Verdi has called on 33,000 workers at Lufthansa to go on strike on Thursday to increase pressure on the airline in a dispute over wages and job security.The strike is expected to last for about five hours from 0500 CET (0400 GMT), the union said on Wednesday, potentially disrupting hundreds of flights ahead of the next round of wage talks on Friday.In negotiations that started last month, Verdi is demanding a 5.2 percent increase in wages for 12 months for employees on the ground at Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Systems and catering unit LSG Sky Chefs, as well as a commitment by Lufthansa to safeguard jobs.Lufthansa, Europe's biggest airline by revenue, has said that it wants to freeze pay and ask employees to work one hour more each week to help it remain competitive in a tough market.Efforts by big European airlines, such as Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways, to shrink costs in the face of high jet fuel prices and fierce competition have fanned tensions with workers.Strikes at Spanish airline Iberia, for instance, caused thousands of flight cancellations at a cost of about EUR€30 million (USD$38.7 million) until workers accepted a mediated deal last week.Thursday's strike at Lufthansa will affect operations across Germany, though Hamburg and the airline's main hub in Frankfurt will be most affected, the union said.A spokeswoman for Lufthansa, which has a total of about 118,000 employees, said the airline was preparing for the strike and would seek to reduce the impact on passengers. Source: Reuters
Gravity always wins!