Our Colleauges in Europe having the same issues...
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Trip7
Well-Known Member
The following article is from our September 2008 issue.
Lufthansa Strikes The airline is facing tough times ahead – By Jens Flottau
While the warning strikes by pilots are officially over pay demands, the real problems are much deeper rooted and have been pending for years.
If there was any doubt left that pilots are the most powerful group within an airline, just ask Lufthansa. The airline has just managed to find a new pay deal with its ground workers and was hoping for more peaceful times during the middle of Germany’s busy summer season.
It was the pilots at regional subsidiaries, Lufthansa CityLine and Eurowings, who made clear by walking off their jobs for 36 hours again earlier this month, that Lufthansa is likely facing more tough times before all the issues are settled. While the warning strikes are officially staged over pay demands, the real problems are much deeper rooted and have been pending for years.
The conflict between Lufthansa and its crews is a classic showdown over the so called “scope clauses.” In 1992, when the airline narrowly avoided bankruptcy, pilots helped with significant pay concessions. However, in return they reached an agreement with management that in the future, aircraft with more than 70 seats should be operated by mainline pilots and regional partners could fly no more than 6 percent of Lufthansa’s total capacity.
So far so good, at least for the time being. In 1992, there were hardly regional aircraft with more than 70 seats and flying 50-seaters seemed perfectly feasible. Times have changed significantly since then: Fuel prices are now about five times as high as they used to be and today, there are numerous larger aircraft at hand. Airlines are keen to spread the cost base over more seats to remain profitable – as a result, there is a good economic incentive to fly larger jets.
That is why Lufthansa ordered 30 Embraer 195s seating 115 passengers. According to the 1992 deal, they would have to be operated by Lufthansa’s much better paid mainline pilots. But the company argues that smaller aircraft are no longer economically viable for its affiliate CityLine. So for the unit to be able to survive, it would have to move up to flying larger jets. While the economic rationale is clear (and has been demonstrated in industry trends for many years), Lufthansa failed to negotiate the changes with pilots beforehand. In the past three years, both sides met twice over the issue and did not even come close to a solution.
Pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) argues that there is a binding contract that cannot be cancelled by one party alone. If it agrees to what it considers to be at least an indirect worsening of working conditions (because the larger jets are to be operated by lower paid pilots), it wants something in return.
Lufthansa argues that aircraft size on average is up across the board. But that is not entirely true: The Embraer 195s could replace similarly sized Boeing 737-500s and the airline also expressed its interest in ordering up to 60 Bombardier C-series aircraft that seat 110-130 passengers, again the same as the older Boeing jet.
VC therefore demands that regardless of where the aircraft are flown, pilots would have to be paid the same as at Lufthansa mainline. If they pushed through a pay deal at CityLine that comes close to the mainline level (around 30 percent more), then Lufthansa has announced it will wind down operations of CityLine leading to the loss of several thousand jobs.
Matters are made worse by the fact that there isn’t much time left to find a solution. The first of the 30 aircraft will arrive early next year and with significant time needed to prepare for the operation of a new fleet, Lufthansa has already found alternative homes for the first 10 aircraft.
Five are going to its Italian subsidiary Air Dolomiti to fly European routes out of Alitalia’s former hub in Milan-Malpensa. Another five are almost certainly placed with regional airline Augsburg Airways, which has no shareholder links to Lufthansa and therefore does not fall under the 1992 agreement.
To hope that outsourcing will solve the problem may very well prove short sighted. According to industry sources, VC is already preparing its strategy for the upcoming pay negotiations at Augsburg where it represents pilots, too. The small company will likely face astronomical demands that could destroy its low cost base.
Lufthansa’s internal problems would then just move outside of the group. And unlike ground workers, pilots can easily ground an airline within a very short time: They just don’t show up for work and every thing stops instantly. VC is now even threatening to ground Lufthansa mainline and not only its regional affiliates although the company considers that illegal and threatens to ask for damages.
Even if the increasingly bitter conflict with the pilots is resolved, the strike story may not be over yet. Unabhängige Flugbegleiter Organisation (UFO), a union representing flight attendants, has already announced that it will not accept the 7.4 percent pay increase negotiated by rival Verdi for ground staff and a small number of cabin crew. When a new collective bargaining agreement becomes due in January, UFO will demand 15 percent more money or otherwise call its members to go on strike.
Screaming_Emu
Well-Known Member
At least they have the cahones to do something about it.
Here in the US the pilots at the majors let scope erode for modest pay raises (united) and BS no furlough clauses (dl) then bitch and moan about it afterwards. Go ALPA!
Here in the US the pilots at the majors let scope erode for modest pay raises (united) and BS no furlough clauses (dl) then bitch and moan about it afterwards. Go ALPA!
Gonzo
Well-Known Member
I could be wrong but I think Lufthansa is ALPA.
Trip7
Well-Known Member
Lufthansa's Pilot union is Vereinigung Cockpit (VC)
Gonzo
Well-Known Member
Which is a member of the IFALPA.
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
They also pay for their own type rating, do they not?
Trip7
Well-Known Member
Gotcha, good to know
Yes, but it is part(of the price) of most integrated courses, especially in Germany. 70k euro.
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
106kUSD. Good deal.
kellwolf
Piece of Trash
Flew with an FO that was in debt about that much. He had his CSEL, CMEL and CFI ratings, then went to Jet U.
SoCalAprch
Well-Known Member
I bet you could probably answer that yourself but Ill take a shot in the dark and guess that they get paid probably 2x as much as us if not much more.
ChasenSFO
hen teaser
Even if the planes should be mainline, as I think all 190s should, if they pay the pilots who fly it at the regional around what guys would be making flying it mainline, at least thats one step forward.
Maybe not, but it certainly is a better deal than spending close to, if not as much, for flight training here in the US only to CFI for 2 years then(if you're lucky
) make 20k a year to be a regional FO and top out at 40k after 3-4 years. It's all relative. I'm sure its not paradise over there for them, but it looks better to me.
O and, the corporate culture is alot more employee oriented than it is here. Much more potential to be treated as a human.......
CRJDriver
Well-Known Member
As far as I know, all Cityhopper pilots are recruited and trained by KLM mainline, I don't think they are a separate company. Here is a rough breakdown of KLM pay (before taxes):
FO base 48,762 Euros
FO top 185,052 Euros
Capt top 246,092 euros
Capt base 133,574 euros
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
Have you ever spoken with a Ryanair pilot? LOL