Lufthansa and UFO negotiate long-term no-strike agreement

Lufthansa and the independent flight attendants’ organisation UFO have announced that they are accepting the mediator’s recommendation by former Brandenburg Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck. The parties had previously spent approximately half a year negotiating all open collective bargaining agreements and a wide range of other issues. “Reaching a comprehensive agreement and ensuring that there is no need for cabin strikes in the years ahead was tremendously important for Lufthansa and all our colleagues in the cabin alike,“ says Dr. Bettina Volkens, Chief Human Resources and Legal Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. “The new system for pensions and transitional payments in particular is an important step towards future-proofing our company. At the same time, we are able to continue offering our employees an attractive compensation package,” Volkens added. The collective labour agreement will be active until 30 June 2019; the collective agreements regarding pensions and transitional payments will be active until 2023. In addition to this, the parties have also agreed upon a number of conflict resolution mechanisms which will remain in place until 2023. The company can, for example, appeal to a mediator when a total strike is announced, thereby converting a possible labour conflict into a mandatory arbitration process.