Pilots of Lufthansa subsidiary Discover to strike again from Sunday

Passengers of German airline Lufthansa's holiday flight subsidiary Discover Airlines are to face cancellations and delays this Sunday and Monday after the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union called on pilots to strike for two whole days.

This is the third strike after a five-hour strike just before Christmas and a regular strike lasting a whole day on Friday last week after the pilots voted in favour of strike action in a ballot.

The union is fighting for a first collective labour agreement at the airline, which was founded two and a half years ago and operates in Frankfurt and Munich.

It informed its members on Friday that the management had not presented an improved offer in renewed talks.

The company is still sticking to the precondition of concluding a so-called social partnership charter prior to a collective labour agreement. In the view of the VC union, this is intended to massively restrict the right to strike.

"The negotiations have therefore failed and cannot be continued under the unacceptable conditions demanded by the employer," the VC bargaining committee informed the employees.

The management's approach was surprising, as the Swiss holiday airline Edelweiss is covered by a solid collective labour agreement, it said.

The renewed strike notice is being used as a last resort in view of the lack of progress in the negotiations.

The January strike had led to several flight cancellations at the airline, which operates a total of 24 aircraft and flies short-haul routes on behalf of its parent company Lufthansa in Munich, among others.

Lufthansa had taken over these flights itself for the day of the strike.