Deutsche Lufthansa AG has made the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union (VC) a new offer to resolve the present industrial dispute.

The company is now offering a two-step 4.4% increase in remuneration plus a one-off payment. Remuneration would be increased by 2.4% for 2016 and by a further 2.0% for 2017. This latest offer is not linked to any other terms or conditions. Lufthansa is thus meeting a key VC demand. The union has also repeatedly told the media that it would be willing to enter mediation on the basis of an offer of this kind.

“We want to urgently avoid any further damage to our company and finally return to offering our passengers the kind of service they can expect from us,” said Harry Hohmeister, Chief Officer Hub Management of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, at a union information event. “And that’s why we submitted a new offer to the VC yesterday evening.”

Lufthansa is immediately available to begin preparations for mediation on the Collective Labor Agreement on Remuneration together with the VC on the basis of this offer. “We want to get back to the negotiating table as quickly as possible,” stressed Bettina Volkens, Chief Officer Corporate Human Resources & Legal Affairs of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. “As desired by the VC, we can then successively negotiate on all the currently-open collective labor agreement issues. And this in turn should lead us back to long-term industrial peace and a sound social partnership.”

The VC union has called on its members to take strike action on six days in total in the latest wave of strikes, which began on 23 November. Lufthansa has had to cancel some 4,450 flights as a result, affecting 525,000 travelers. “We assume that the VC will now end its strike action,” Hohmeister added, “and that we can return to normal flight operations from tomorrow onwards.”