Following a call for strike by its employees unhappy over wage negotiations, Lufthansa, the national carrier of Germany has cancelled over 900 of its 1,000 flights slated for February 20 due to a strike by its employees, mainly ground handling staff.

According to Lufthansa, trade union Verdi has called on the ground staff at Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Cargo and other companies to go on strike. Though Verdi says its strike action will commence at 04:00 CET (09:30 IST) on February 20, Lufthansa says that it anticipates strikes to commence from 20:00 CET on Monday itself and end on Wednesday morning at 07:10 CET.

Verdi says that different times apply for areas not close to passengers, such as cargo or technology. Verdi has called for the strike as the company has not agreed to its demand for a pay rise of 12.5 pc and an inflation bonus for all the 25,000 employees of the aviation group. Lufthansa, instead, has offered a 10 pc revision, which was rejected by 96 pc of the workers.

Lufthansa says that its customers can rebook their flights free of charge if they have been cancelled due to the strike. This can be done via its website, app or through service centres. It also adds that customers can convert their domestic flight tickets into vouchers for travel by train.

“The ground workers feel offended once again. While the Lufthansa group gives its pilots with annual basic incomes of up to EUR 270,000 high double-digit pay increases, the ground workers with starting hourly wages of sometimes EUR 13 are not even expected to compensate for the price increases of the last few years. This is blatantly anti-social,” Marvin Reschinsky, Lead Negotiator of Verdi was cited by news agencies as saying.

Michael Niggemann

Lufthansa’s Chief Human Resources Director Michael Niggemann has called the latest strike disproportionate and highlighted the fact that it disrupted both passengers and employees.

‘‘This is not the way to handle our joint responsibility to our colleagues, our passengers or for a strong and reliable Lufthansa,’’ says Niggemann.