Lufthansa staff have been called on to strike over pay, adding further disruption to summer travel.
German service workers' union ver.di said the call to strike applies to all Lufthansa locations in Germany and it comes amid negotiations on pay for about 20,000 employees of logistical, technical and cargo subsidiaries of the airline. The strike was set to start at 1.45am on Wednesday, July 27 and end at 4am on Thursday, July 28.
The walkout comes at a time when airports across Europe are seeing disruption and long lines for security checks. Chaotic scenes have become commonplace for passengers, with a number of UK airports - including Manchester - suffering from delays.
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Lufthansa operates flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to its hub in Frankfurt, providing global connectivity for passengers from the Speke-based airport. A spokesperson from Liverpool Airport confirmed that the airline's flight from Liverpool to the German city on Wednesday is expected to operate as normal.
Ver.di aims to raise the pressure on Lufthansa ahead of the next round of negotiations on August 3 and 4. Such “warning strikes” are a common tactic in German labour negotiations and typically last from several hours to a day or two.
The union is calling for a 9.5% pay increase this year and says an offer by Lufthansa earlier this month, which would involve a deal for an 18-month period, falls far short of its demands.
Lufthansa human resources chief Michael Niggemann said in a statement that ver.di’s strike call “is all the more incomprehensible given that the employer side has offered high and socially balanced pay increases” despite a “tense” economic situation for the company and an uncertain economic outlook.
On its website, Lufthansa stated: "The union Verdi has called a one-day warning strike for Lufthansa ground staff throughout Germany. For this reason, we expect massive restrictions for the Lufthansa flight schedule on Wednesday, 27 July.
"We will publish more information about cancellations and further flight schedule changes by Monday evening."
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