The flight attendant union UFO strongly criticizes the dispute between Lufthansa and Condor. The workers' representatives call on the government to prevent tax money from being used as a “war chest”. The background is that the crane has canceled the agreement on feeder flights for the holiday airline and Condor is now pulling before the Federal Cartel Office.
“The travel industry is still groaning under the massive consequences of the corona pandemic. Both Condor and Lufthansa have rightly received support in order to remain in the market. If Lufthansa now uses these funds to force other corona victims out of the market, this cannot be tolerated, ”says Daniel Flohr, Chairman of the Independent Flight Attendant Organization. “Lufthansa employees have made their contribution with crisis contracts. In the same way, the Condorians made massive concessions twice and restructured their airline after the Thomas Cook bankruptcy and the factual grounding by Corona. Playing pilots against each other is anti-social and harms Germany as a work location. We call on the management of LH, Condor but also that of Tui, DFS and other players in German aviation to look for alliances. If necessary, the (co-) owner of the Federal Republic must take a close look and intervene to mediate ”.
“The result is expensive lawsuits, years of uncertainty and danger for many German tariff jobs, while Emirates, Ryanair and Co. are willingly conquering the German market. Taxpayers have already done a lot to keep these jobs. Neither the public sector nor the employees may now be strained further because managers are exploiting the situation for a war of displacement. If LH were successful, the LH Group would also have a real market dominance, which would be regulated by the antitrust authorities anyway, ”explains Rainer Bauer, head of tariffs at UFO. “From the UFO's point of view, the state, as a co-owner, cannot look any further. Lufthansa is seamlessly continuing a policy that runs counter to the actual goal of state support. Leaving experienced employees at SunExpress Germany and Germanwings out in the rain and at the same time using the non-tariff project 'Ocean' to specifically advertise these employees under the stipulations of compulsory part-time work and fixed-term contracts is only part of the picture ”, continues Bauer.