A bit of peace at lufthansa: the airline’s passengers will no longer have to fear new strikes by the ufo cabin crew union in the coming months.
The company has agreed on a complex procedure with the flight attendants to settle the numerous unresolved disputes. The central element is a comprehensive mediation, which is linked to a peace obligation until the end of the proceedings, as both sides explained in frankfurt on friday.
An exact period was not called, according to the rumor, however, is expected with several months. The first dates have already been agreed. The arbitration is to be accompanied by mediation and a superjudicial good faith procedure in order to be able to settle disputes above the pay scale as well.
According to dpa information, former SPD politician matthias platzeck and former labor agency head frank-jurgen weise will act as mediators, having already been involved in the lengthy process of reaching an agreement. For the accompanying proceedings, a former labor judge and a professional mediator were appointed as additional experts.
Already with the entry into the arbitration are for the approximately 22.000 lufthansa flight attendants linked to concrete improvements. So the paid stop-overs of the crews in japan and south korea will be extended again. In addition, the employees will receive a special payment of 1,500 euros each.
The arbitration agreement was preceded by three waves of strikes since the fall, with a total of around 2,000 flight cancellations, and months of negotiations between the deeply divided bargaining parties. A turnaround was only achieved with the arrival of the new lufthansa chief human resources officer michael niggemann, who replaced the previous chief human resources officer bettina volkens at the turn of the year. He apparently found a new level of communication with the functionaries of the ufo who were also personally affected. "We agree to look ahead first and foremost," the former swiss manager said of the agreement.
In addition to various collective bargaining issues relating to working conditions, pensions and wages, the long disputes between the contending parties have left many conflicts in their wake. Among other things, there are personal lawsuits filed by lufthansa and related liability issues against former and current board members of the union. Also, the former head of ufo, nicoley baublies, was summarily dismissed from lufthansa services. His resignation, along with other legal issues, will now be the subject of extra-judicial good faith proceedings, in which a labor judge is looking for legally sound solutions.
The mediation process will focus primarily on future dealings with each other; there is not yet a final list of issues to be addressed. "We are glad that we now have a framework to clarify the previous dispute with the help of third parties and to learn what we must do differently in the future so that such a conflict does not escalate in such a way again," said ufo vice chairman daniel flohr.
The ufo union has been concluding collective bargaining agreements with lufthansa since 2002. However, during a serious crisis in the union’s leadership last year, the company questioned the union’s ability to negotiate collective agreements and refused to recognize resolutions of the ufo board of management on matters such as the announcement of collective bargaining agreements. However, a corresponding lawsuit to revoke union status has since been withdrawn. Still up to 14. February is the election for a new executive board.