The Independent Flight Attendants Organisation (UFO) has called for a strike affecting the cabin crew of Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cityline this Friday. According to the union, the strike is scheduled to take place from 12:01 AM until 10:00 PM. Consequently, all Lufthansa departures from Frankfurt and Munich airports will be affected. For the Cityline, the strike will impact departures from Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Berlin, and Hanover.
Joachim Vazquez Bürger, the UFO chairman, stated that the situation was preventable. He asserted that the responsibility lies with Lufthansa, arguing that the airline has so far failed to present a negotiating proposal. He added that the union deliberately excluded labor disputes over the Easter holidays to keep the impact on travelers as minimal as possible. He acknowledged that disruptions upon returning from holidays are possible and expressed sincere regret regarding this.
Harry Jaeger, UFO’s head of tariff policy and lead negotiator, accused the employers of not having moved an inch over several months. Specific points of contention include job protection, improved predictability, and extended notice periods. Jaeger criticized the airline for increasingly employing rhetoric citing “productivity” which, according to him, suggests deep structural cuts to hard-won and urgently needed protective mechanisms. He concluded that reaching an agreement on this basis is simply unthinkable.