Negotiations between the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots’ union and Lufthansa, along with Lufthansa Cargo, regarding a new collective bargaining agreement concerning company pension schemes have broken down The union announced the failure of talks Wednesday
VC President Andreas Pinheiro stated that the employer side demonstrated no genuine willingness to raise the level of company pension provision (bAV) to a reliable standard from the outset He asserted that, instead of constructive solutions, only models at the expense of employees were presented, with no substantial improvements offered
Until 2017, pilots received a traditional company pension with guaranteed payouts According to the union, this was replaced at the employer’s urging with a capital market-financed model that falls significantly short of the previous provision level Pinheiro emphasized that the company pension scheme is a central component of pilots’ financial security, at least as important as the state pension
Following the unsuccessful negotiations, the Group Tariff Commission called upon the VC board to initiate a vote for industrial action “This step was not taken lightly – but it was necessary” said GTK spokesperson Arne Karstens “We accept the capital market-oriented system, but if the returns are insufficient, the employer side must make higher contributions”