Lufthansa & Pilot Union Reach Tentative Agreement – Strike Canceled

Lufthansa’s pilot strike last week canceled most of the flights for a day that affected 130,000 passengers. There was going to be further strike action on Wednesday and Thursday this week that has now been called off.

The pilot association has announced that they have reached a tentative agreement with Lufthansa, and the strike has now been canceled while the deal is finalized.

You can access Lufthansa here.

Lufthansa’s release:

The strike has been cancelled for Wednesday, September 07. 2022 and Thursday, September 08. 2022 by the Union Cockpit. Lufthansa welcomes the fact that inconveniences, especially for our customers, can be avoided. Lufthansa Group flights will take place as planned in the upcoming days.

Pilot Union announcement (Google translate from German):

No strike – Cockpit Association and Lufthansa reach agreement on partial solution

Fortunately, the Cockpit Association and Lufthansa agreed on a partial solution this Tuesday. A comprehensive package of monetary and structural issues was essentially agreed and is awaiting elaboration in the coming days.

The industrial action announced for this week is cancelled. “We are pleased that a result could be achieved at the negotiating table and that further disadvantages for customers, employees and the company can be avoided as a result,” says Marcel Gröls, Chairman of Collective Bargaining Policy. “Today important first steps towards sustainable cooperation were taken”.

Conclusion

These European disputes between companies and unions representing employees are often resolved at the very last minute. That was the case here too.

Considering what happened last week, I was fully expecting the two-day strike to go on. However, it appears that Lufthansa decided that the trike would have further negatively affected its standing with the public, and agreement, albeit pricey, was the right action to take.