Fewer than 24 hours after starting, the strike action by pilots at Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo and Germanwings has been called off by the Cockpit union. After two hours of talks in Frankfurt, Cockpit agreed to go back to the negotiating table despite having rejected such a move just before the strike began at midnight on Sunday. Lufthansa said that 960 out of 1800 scheduled flights had been affected.
The dispute is over union concerns that less expensive foreign pilots are increasingly being used and that Lufthansa plans to cut staff costs by using foreign subsidiaries such as Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa Italia which pay lower wages. As a result, the pilots’ union is seeking a 6.4% pay rise, an increased say for their members in company decisions and as well as job security guarantees if more use is made of foreign subsidiaries. The union added that no additional action would take place before 9 March.
Source: bcc.co.uk/22.02.2010