Lufthansa, flight attendants union reach long-term no-strike agreement | ATWOnline

Lufthansa and the Independent Flight Attendants’ Organization (UFO) negotiated a long-term, no-strike agreement July 5, concluding nearly six months of arbitration.

“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,” Lufthansa chief human resources and legal officer Bettina Volkens said.

The parties have agreed to a new pensions and transitional payments plan, to be active until the end of 2023, which allows Lufthansa to shift its second-largest group of employees (the flight attendants) from a defined-benefit system to a defined-contribution system. Lufthansa will contribute a total of 5.2% of eligible income to the pension schemes of cabin staff, which is the same benefit the Lufthansa Group ground staff receives, Lufthansa said.

Additionally, a long-term no-strike agreement was reached, which will be active until June 30, 2019. A number of conflict resolution mechanisms were also agreed on, 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 labor conflict into a mandatory arbitration process,” Lufthansa said.

A 1% wage increase for the approximately 19,000 cabin employees will be instituted as of Oct. 1, 2016, and an additional 2% as of January 1, 2018. The collective labor agreement for wages will remain in place until June 30, 2019.

A new qualification-based compensation structure for cabin staff was also agreed to. Lufthansa will offer an eighteen-month training course at the bachelor level, which flight attendants must complete to be eligible for a basic compensation of 2,150 euros per month.

A “target corridor” for a 10% decrease in cabin personnel costs was announced in the agreement as well, but no further details or specifics on the cuts were released.

Additionally, the Lufthansa said “employment is guaranteed for all Lufthansa cabin employees until 2021, as the company has ruled out redundancies for the duration of five years. In addition, it has been agreed that Lufthansa airplanes may not be operated with external cabin staff until 2023.”

Lufthansa announced in January that it intends to hire 1,400 new flight attendants this year.

Lufthansa, flight attendants union reach long-term no-strike agreement | Labor content from ATWOnline