The Wall Street Journal
By Natalia Drozdiak
Nov. 29, 2014 1:28 a.m. ET
FRANKFURT—Pilots at Deutsche Lufthansa AG late Friday said fresh strikes were impending after the most recent round of talks between the airline and its pilots over retirement benefits broke down.
The pilots union, Vereinigung Cockpit, said no real progress was made in the recent discussions with the airline since the union’s last strike in October. It said the pilots could walk out on flights at Lufthansa’s passenger, cargo or Germanwings airlines at any time.
Lufthansa has been pummeled by a string of pilot strikes this year, following a dispute with the union that has dragged on for more than two years.
The airline wants to raise the early retirement age to 60 to cut costs as it struggles to compete with budget airlines in Europe and price-aggressive Middle East carriers.
Lufthansa pilots can currently retire at age 55 and continue to receive 60% of their salary. But the airline has said the benefits program is outdated now that the European Union recently changed the guidelines, allowing pilots to fly until age 65.
“The Lufthansa management hasn’t taken up any of VC’s offers and continues to insist on maximum demands,” Vereinigung Cockpit said.
The two parties are also at odds over the German carrier’s plans to shift some flying to lower-cost operations. Lufthansa’s supervisory board is set to decide on its lower-cost, long-haul concept in early December.
The German carrier in late October scaled back its earnings guidance for next year, citing the deteriorating global economic outlook. It now expects to see an operating profit next year “significantly above” the €1 billion it still expects to see this year.
The airline had said, however, the targets for this year and next don’t account for further labor union strikes.
The walkouts by pilots and other labor unions have so far cost the airline about €170 million this year.
- Source: http://online.wsj.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment