Pilots at Lufthansa unit Eurowings vote to strike on jobs, hours

 Pilots at Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s discount carrier voted in favor of possible strike action to push the airline for a deal on wages, flight-duty hours and rest periods.

Germany’s Vereinigung Cockpit union said more than 90% of its members voted in support. The ballot called for better pay and plannable working hours for Eurowings pilots with children or starting families, according to a statement Wednesday. 

A quicker-than-expected recovery in air travel has clashed with a shortage of staff at airlines and airports after deep cuts during the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s brought a summer of chaos for the industry, with Lufthansa and other carriers cancelling thousands of flights. Meanwhile, soaring inflation is triggering a wave of industrial action.

Lufthansa this month said it sealed a wage deal with the Verdi labor union that represented 20,000 of its ground crew. Pay increases ranged from 13.6% to 18.6% after a warning strike led to hundreds of cancellations at the carrier’s Munich and Frankfurt hubs. 

The Eurowings ballot is not a decision to strike, but a warning to the carrier to reach a solution, the VC union said.