Strike action by UFO union ended, Lufthansa signs preliminary agreement over mediation
Lufthansa stated (09-Sep-2012) the nationwide cabin crew strike called by the Independent Flight Attendants Organisation (UFO) on 07-Sep-2012 has been ended and Lufthansa and UFO have signed a preliminary agreement over mediation. Starting on 08-Sep-2012, there will no longer be any strikes until an arbiter's ruling, with UFO expecting talks to take at least six weeks. UFO confirmed, "We have signed a preliminary agreement over a mediation on the wage components... there will no longer be any strikes until we agree to or reject an arbiter's ruling". As part of agreement, Lufthansa will stop external cabin crew staffing in Berlin. Aviation Power flight attendants currently working on Lufthansa flights will receive offer for permanent employment within Lufthansa Group next year. "Without preconditions and for a foreseeable time frame Lufthansa is going to resign from deploying external cabin crews in Berlin", said Lufthansa CEO and executive board chairman Christoph Franz. He added, "With this decision we are taking a big step towards our social partners. We hope that this step will help the trade union UFO to, within the scope of constructive talks together with us, tread a path leading to a sustainable and competitive wage structure for our cabin staff." Lufthansa executive board member Carsten Spohr said, "We are happy to offer permanent employment within the Lufthansa Group already next year to those flight attendants who supported us in establishing our new Berlin programme. With this offer our cabin staff has safe and good future prospects within the Group." The call to strike action forced Lufthansa to cancel a majority of flights over the past week, with the latest strike action occurring on 07-Sep-2012, resulting in the cancellation of around 1000 services and affecting around 100,000 passengers, with the three days of strike action estimated to cost the carrier around EUR10 million. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II] [more - original PR - German I] [more - original PR - German II]