Grounded in the Future?

Lufthansa Flight Crew Votes to Strike

Flight attendants working for Germany's largest airline voted Monday to go on strike. The UFO union is still negotiating with Lufthansa, but the door has been opened for a disruptive cabin crew walkout.

DDP

Flight attendants protest in Frankfurt: "Lufthansa is saving us to death!!"

Flight attendants at Germany's flagcarrier airline, Lufthansa, voted Monday to approve an open-ended strike in support of their demands for better pay and working conditions. The cabin crew's union, UFO, reported that 96 percent of those who voted were in favor of a walkout.

UFO said it would hold strikes lasting for several hours at short notice. There are no plans, however, for long strikes. "We aren't planning any weeks-long enforcement strikes," UFO chief negotiator Joachim Müller told reporters. In January, UFO staged two warning strikes, forcing the cancellation of 1,200 flights.

The union is demanding a 6.1-percent pay increase for the next 14 months as well as better benefits. The vote for the walkout came after the airline offered only 3.4 percent.

UFO said its negotiations with Lufthansa had collapsed on Feb. 17. Müller said the union had lowered its original call for a wage increase of up to 15 percent because of the economic crisis.

It's still unknown if the labor dispute will turn into an active conflict. German news agency DPA reported on Monday that progress had been made over the weekend in talks between Lufthansa and UFO.

"We are in continuing discussions," said Lufthansa spokeswoman Claudia Lange, adding that the company was seeking a solution.

Meanwhile, union representative Müller told Reuters, "I hope that we are able to reach an agreement before the strike begins."

The strike vote itself began on Feb. 23 and was only completed on Monday. The negotiations are being conducted on behalf of 16,000 flight attendants, of whom UFO claims to count 70 percent as its members.

dsl -- with wires