One of the results of the global financial crisis was the increase in prices for aviation gasoline, which worsened the position of the largest air carriers in Europe. And the German concern Lufthansa also faced this problem with difficulties in obtaining loans to pay for the ordered 256 new aircraft. The difficult financial situation of their employer was the reason that led to the strike of the flight attendants of this company.
To mitigate the financial crisis, the third largest airline in the world has developed a cost-cutting program of one and a half billion euros. However, its implementation faced resistance from trade unions, since, among other things, it provides for the reduction of 3,500 jobs. Negotiations between management and workers' representatives have been going on for 13 months, and by the beginning of autumn 2012 Lufthansa employees added to their arguments very radical - the airline's flight attendants had already held two strikes and announced the preparation of a third. They demand a 5% increase in wages and an end to the practice of replacing permanent workers with temporary workers with lower wages. The employer so far agrees to only a 3.5% increase in wages with the introduction of an extended working day for crews.
The first strike of Lufthansa flight attendants took place on 31 August and lasted eight hours. It was held at only one airport in Germany - in Frankfurt am Main, but caused damage to the airline several million euros. Then more than two hundred flights were canceled, which were supposed to fly off almost 26 thousand air passengers. The repeated action has already affected three airports in the country - except for Frankfurt on August 4, the planes of the German concern were idle in Berlin and Munich. A total of 230 flights were canceled that day. Lufthansa's management all these days provided the airline's customers with the opportunity to reach their destination by rail. And the German railway concern Deutsche Bahn even allocated additional trains for this.
In one of the interviews, the head of the union of flight attendants announced that the next strike was being prepared, which should take place at all airports in the country and last exactly one day.
