I don't know about the specifics of their discussion, but I have the feeling this is the same issue every 2 years (and in between its either ground staff or the Pilots).
I believe compared to any other airline in Europe (except SAS maybe), let alone the US, LH FAs are well-paid and have a huge list of company benefits. They sleep in the nicest hotels, they have long layovers on long-hauls, they have decent hours and they can take their families on a vacation in business class every now and then. So I really don't see what they are complaining about.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ded0r
I don't know about the specifics of their discussion, but I have the feeling this is the same issue every 2 years (and in between its either ground staff or the Pilots)
Don't forget the ATC
As far as LH mainline FAs are concerned their bennies are being cut slice by slice the past decade and each time LHs argument has been: we're going thru tough times, help out now and we'll help you with profit sharing or some other intangible goodie later.
This time its clear LH wants the mainline crews with their bennies to stick to longhaul only and leave the mid/shorthaul to low(er) wage crews that get paid like LH cityline (two year limited contract, higher hours, lower wages etc). Mainline crews currently get their 70-90h/month in by flying two longhaul rotations and one week of regional flying (regional counts 1.1 to 1.3 times the hours depending on rank). This is definitely too little....
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It seems LH doesn't think the UFO vote will lead to strikes:
Quote:
Stimmung abgefragt
UFO-Urabstimmung / LH an Lösung interessiert
In einer Urabstimmung haben
sich die LH-Flugbegleiter für
einen Streik ausgesprochen.
Die Zustimmung zu möglichen
Arbeitskampfmaßnahmen habe
bei 97,5 Prozent gelegen,
teilte die Unabhängige Flugbegleiter-
Organisation (UFO) am
8. August mit. Lufthansa befindet
sich seit Monaten mit der
UFO in Tarifverhandlungen.
Die Verhandlungen sind weder
abgebrochen noch gescheitert.
LH ist nach wie vor daran interessiert,
zusammen mit der
UFO nach Lösungen in dem
Konflikt zu suchen. Die Urabstimmung
wertet LH nicht als
konkrete Vorbereitung für einen
anstehenden Arbeitskampf,
sondern als Abfrage eines
Stimmungsbildes.
It looks like LH definitely wants to run the shorthaul with the direct4U concept like Cityline: short term contracts with long hours and low wages. The Mainline salaries are supposed to be capped and minimum hours raised to 72, with an expectation to do 80-90h/month on average, with short-/midhaul not counting extra (with a factor of 1.1-.3x) anymore. Vacation is also proposed to be cut from 42(!) to 40.
So in essence LH is going after the remaining niceties in the LH FA world. UFO certainly will go a for a strike action as this is one of the cornerstones of their support. They are also picking their topics and will focus on the elements that can be striked on, so that no court can deny the right to strike.
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It seems LH offered to negotiate about the big picture last night while UFO was preparing to just offer a deal of 5% wage raise and strike immediately afterwards.
It seems they will negotiate all weekend. LH is trying to be smart and make this about the big picture because they know UFO can't strike about the overall situation, but just the wage negotiations.
On Tuesday Weber was playing the bad cop, yesterday the HR head intervened and played the good cop
UFO FAs vote for strike action [merged discussion thread]]
