Deutsche Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, could face industrial action at the beginning of the holiday season. The company is currently in pay negotiations for three divisions, and in two cases the talks are proving very difficult. It appears unlikely that an agreement will be reached soon with pilots' union VC about the use of new aircraft at City Line, a regional airline belonging to the group. Two token strikes have already been held at City Line recently, one of which was accompanied by action at Eurowings and Germanwings, two other airlines owned by Lufthansa. VC says that pay talks at all three of these companies have failed and that a strike ballot is being held; if over 70 per cent of the pilots vote in favour of industrial action, unlimited strikes are said to be possible.

It is also believed that Ver.di, the trade union for the services sector, could call for token strikes among ground and cabin staff of Lufthansa. Pay negotiations for around 52,000 ground and cabin staff at Lufthansa were adjourned on Wednesday, without any agreement having been reached.

Abstracted from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung