April 2, 2020, 5:27 p.m.
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After Lufthansa made an agreement with Corona Cockpit on short-time work. However, Lufthansa does not want to know that the regulations, as claimed by the union, also apply to Germanwings.
© Germanwings
As the Pilots Association Cockpit (VC) announced on Wednesday evening, Lufthansa pilots have now reached an agreement on short-time work during the Corona crisis.
According to the information, short-time work begins immediately. According to a spokesman for the Cockpit Association, around 4,500 pilots are affected in Germany. The rules would also apply to the pilots at Germanwings.
Lufthansa disagrees. According to the group, it has so far not been possible to meet the short-time working rules for Germanwings with the unions. In view of the critical economic situation at the subsidiary, the terms agreed for Lufthansa at Germanwings could not be presented, the company said and questioned the flight operations of Germanwings. The negotiations would continue.
Germanwings with its 30 aircraft and around 1400 employees only flies for Eurowings. With the airline, which started in 2002, some pilots still work according to the rules of the Lufthansa Group contract and are therefore comparatively expensive.
Lufthansa increases the number of its own pilots
At Lufthansa, the employer increases the pilot’s salary above the statutory short-time work rates, the VC told airliners.de.
According to this, captains receive a net salary increase to 85 percent, senior first officer to 86 percent and first officer to 87 percent. In addition, it was agreed to postpone the salary increase that had actually been agreed from April. In this way, the cockpit costs at Lufthansa were reduced by around half.
According to the VC, the pilots concerned achieved a net amount of around 75 percent of the pre-corona salary, since the normal remuneration included so-called multi-flight hours, which are now also no longer applicable.
Lufthansa had promised to increase the ground staff and flight attendants by up to 90 percent. In Germany, those affected by short-time work receive 60 to 67 percent of the net wages from the state for the work they do. In the Corona crisis, the employment agency also pays full social security contributions.
Benefits from the agency for short-time work are only paid up to a maximum gross salary of 6900 per month. Therefore, the legal regulations on short-time work for pilots hardly work – many earn above the social security contribution ceiling.
All airlines and subsidiaries in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium are affected by short-time working in the Lufthansa Group.
As a spokesman for the AFP news agency said on Thursday, 31,000 out of 35,000 employees of the core airline Lufthansa in Germany are affected by short-time work. In addition to the short-time workers at the German core company Lufthansa, there are further large blocks at Swiss (9500) and Austrian (7000). The Belgian Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa Technik and the catering subsidiary LSG also have a lot of work to do. Including the other group companies, short-time working in the corona crisis applies to 62,000 Lufthansa Group employees in Germany.
Worldwide, Lufthansa has registered or planned short-time work for 87,000 of a total of 135,000 employees and thus for around two thirds of the Group’s workforce.
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