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Lufthansa pilots call off strike

Published: 23/02/2010 - Filed under: News »

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Lufthansa is rushing to resume normal service after a four-day pilots’ strike was called off last night with three days still to go.

The Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) trade union, which represents pilots at both Lufthansa and subsidiary Germanwings, said an “agreement” had been reached before Frankfurt’s labour court.

In a statement today (February 23), the VC said both it and Lufthansa had agreed to return to the negotiating table and that it would remove a request for “variable remuneration” from its list of demands.

But the VC added that the agreement included a “two-week peace obligation”, a sign that further industrial action has not been ruled out completely.

Lufthansa confirmed that strike action had ended, but that the effects of it would continue to be felt in its flight schedule. With more services being reinstated, passengers are advised to visit airline websites for revised timetables.

The four-day strike began yesterday following a dispute over pay and airline restructuring. Both Lufthansa and Germanwings were forced to issue heavily reduced timetables (see online news February 22).

Lufthansa estimated that as many as two thirds of affected services had to be cancelled, while Germanwings said it would operate 400 out of 600 flights during the four-day period.

Lufthansa yesterday filed a lawsuit with the labour court in Frankfurt against the strike action which it labelled “disproportionate,” reports said.

The court filing stated that the industrial action had violated a no-strike clause in staff contracts, a statement from the court said.

For more information visit lufthansa.com, germanwings.com.

Report by Andrew Gough

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