BERLIN (Reuters) -Deutsche Lufthansa (ETR:LHAG) ground staff went on strike early on Wednesday, which caused more than 1,000 flights to be cancelled and added to travel problems during the busy summer travel season.
The labour union called for the walkout, which will last until Thursday at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT), because it wants a 9.5% pay raise for about 20,000 workers.
Because of this, Lufthansa has cancelled almost all flights for Wednesday at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs.
Already, strikes and a lack of staff have caused Lufthansa and other airlines to cancel thousands of flights and cause hours-long lines at major airports, which is frustrating for people who want to travel after the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Diego Lambiase was on his way from Africa to Paris when his next flight was cancelled on Wednesday. He was stuck in Frankfurt.
He told Reuters TV at Germany’s busiest airport: “They said I’d be rebooked tomorrow, but when we got here, nobody was there to tell us what to do, where to go, or where to sleep.”
“We are looking for people from Lufthansa, but when we asked, we were told that it would be hard to find anyone from Lufthansa at the airport today. So we have no idea what to do, “he said.
Verdi asked for a 9.5 percent pay raise, or at least $368 more per month for 12 months, for about 20,000 workers who it says are being hurt by inflation and have been overworked because airports don’t have enough workers.
Lufthansa had offered a 150-euro-per-month raise for the rest of this year and another 100-euro raise at the start of 2023, plus a 2% raise starting in the middle of 2023, depending on the company’s financial performance.
But Verdi turned down the offer because he thought it wasn’t enough to make up for Germany’s high inflation, which hit 8.2% in June.
Julian Grundmann, who was flying to the Seychelles on a different airline, said, “I can understand the strike because they have the most power right now, when people are on vacation.”
“But this is hard for everyone who wanted to fly today and had been waiting for their vacation for a long time,” he said.
So far, Verdi and Lufthansa have had two rounds of salary talks. A third is set for the 3rd and 4th of August.
