Strikes at German airline Lufthansa continued to force the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Wednesday amid a wave of disruptive labour disputes in German transport.
Cabin crews at Lufthansa pushed forward with a second day of strikes against the airline on Wednesday, this time with Munich-based Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine flight attendants going on strike beginning at 4 am (0300 GMT), with the action set to last until 11 pm.
Lufthansa estimates that around 400 aircraft would be grounded on Wednesday due to the labour dispute with the cabin crew trade union Ufo, with 50,000 passengers affected.
The strike in Munich came a day after flight attendants at Lufthansa's primary hub in Frankfurt staged a day-long strike on Tuesday, which cancelled 600 flights and affected an estimated 70,000 passengers.
Ground staff at Lufthansa, meanwhile, threatened a further strike against the airline on Thursday at five German airports. The trade union verdi announced that ground staff would walk off the job on Thursday in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe/Baden Baden, Cologne and Berlin.
"The strikes could be extended," verdi negotiator Wolfgang Pieper warned on Tuesday.
Both verdi and Ufo are demanding pay increases from Lufthansa. Last week, hundreds of Lufthansa flights were cancelled due to earlier ground staff strikes also organized by verdi.
A separate strike against German national railway Deutsche Bahn ended early on Wednesday morning at 2 am. Deutsche Bahn was forced to cancel about 80% of long-distance trains during the strike by the GDL train drivers' union.
Freight trains, regional passenger service and Deutsche Bahn's suburban commuter rail service were also affected by the strike.
The strike was the sixth called by the GDL trade union against Deutsche Bahn in recent months amid bitter collective bargaining talks over the union's demand for a shorter 35-hour working week.
Deutsche Bahn appealed to the GDL to announce any future strikes with more advance notice. The union only announced Tuesday's strike on Sunday evening.
The GDL's combative leader, Claus Weselsky, has sought to increase the pressure on Deutsche Bahn with shorter and shorter-term industrial action.
The railway had accepted a compromise proposal in a mediation process, which called for reducing working hours to 36 hours in two stages by 2028. The GDL rejected the proposal and ended the talks.
Negotiations between Lufthansa and verdi over wages for ground staff, meanwhile, continued on Wednesday despite the looming strikes.
"Both sides have the will to reach an agreement. We are not separated by personal issues, we are separated by money," verdi negotiator Marvin Reschinsky told dpa. "The company still has to move if it does not want to risk further strikes."
Verdi is demanding 12.5% more pay for a 12-month term for the approximately 25,000 ground staff, while the company has so far offered 10% for a 28-month term.
The cabin crew trade union Ufo is demanding 15% more pay for approximately 18,000 staff at Lufthansa and the almost 1,000 employees of the regional subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine for a contract period of 18 months. The union also wants an inflation adjustment bonus of €3,000 ($3,278) and higher bonuses.
Lufthansa's head of human resources, Michael Niggemann, appealed to the union on Tuesday to reach a deal and end the strikes.
"We have made good, far-reaching offers to both verdi and Ufo, both with salary increases of around 10%," said Niggemann. "I think that is the basis for finding solutions in the short term. We are ready to negotiate."
