Lufthansa cabin crew union says pay talks have failed

Reuters
Passenger planes of German air carrier Lufthansa are parked at the technical maintaining area at the Frankfurt Airport in Germany, early morning September 9, 2015. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Talks between Lufthansa and its main cabin crew union have failed, the union said on Saturday, raising the prospect of more strikes at the German carrier. Lufthansa is in talks with various staff groups as it seeks to cut costs in order to compete better with low cost carriers and Gulf rivals. A long-running dispute with its pilots over pay and conditions has already resulted in more than a dozen strikes over a period of 18 months. The cabin crew union, which represents 19,000 staff had given Lufthansa until Nov. 1 to put forward a better offer in long-running talks over pay, retirement benefits and working conditions. Despite a constructive start to talks over the weekend, Lufthansa refused to reconfirm agreements it had previously made verbally, Nicoley Baublies, head of the union, told Reuters. "Strikes are a possibility," Baublies said, adding that the union would announce its next course of action on Monday. Lufthansa was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Peter Maushagen; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Alison Williams)