The flight attendant union UFO is calling on the management of the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings Discover to negotiate wages for the cabin crew. Unlike other group airlines, this carrier currently has no collective agreements.
"After UFO, together with the Cockpit Association, has already successfully called for works council elections in Eurowings Discover, we believe this is the next logical step to remind the Lufthansa Group of the social partnership responsibility that is customary in Germany," explains Maximilian Kampka, Head of Collective Bargaining Policy at UFO.
“The statement made by Carsten Spohr last year that the tariffing of flight operations could also cost jobs can still only be understood as a declaration of war on the various workforces in the group - after it was saved by paying billions in short-time work benefits. The start-up charm of Eurowings Discover has been exhausted - the employees there now need a minimum of social security," continues Anja Bronstert, Deputy Chairwoman of UFO.
The Lufthansa Group looks back on a long history of founding and closing subsidiaries, and just last week confirmed that it wanted to register another AOC in Germany with a focus on European traffic.
“The cabin workers in the various Lufthansa subsidiaries are faced with the great challenge of not getting caught up in a competition to the bottom, despite their fundamental willingness to contribute to the future viability of the Group. The sooner UFO is involved as a reliable collective bargaining partner in every flight operation, the better it is for the group's management to make sensible strategic decisions," Bronstert concludes.