Union Calls for Cabin Crew Strike at Lufthansa's Eurowings
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A German union has called on cabin crew at Lufthansa's budget airline Eurowings to strike Thursday after last-ditch pay talks collapsed.
The UFO labor union said it had offered to take the dispute to mediation at 3 am (0100 GMT) Wednesday morning to avert industrial action but management had failed to make a decision on the matter by the morning.
"We have to assume that this is a stalling tactic and therefore we cannot avoid calling for industrial action for tomorrow," UFO's deputy chairwoman Sylvia De la Cruz said in a statement reported by Reuters.
UFO said it would publish further details of the planned strike by 6 pm (1600 GMT) Wednesday.
A spokesman for Eurowings said the company had asked that the talks be adjourned until Wednesday afternoon to give it time to review the union's new mediation offer.
"Therefore we find the call for a strike completely incomprehensible. We remain ready to talk at any time of the day or night," he said.
The two sides held talks this week after Eurowings management put forward a new offer last week, including an average pay increase of around 7 percent.
Lufthansa is using the regional carrier as the base for low-cost expansion and is combining it with its Germanwings operations. The union has been trying to agree new contracts for Eurowings staff in Germany for two years.
The Eurowings talks are separate from an agreement reached this summer between Lufthansa and the UFO covering staff at its Lufthansa and Germanwings airlines.
