FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – At Lufthansa, in the midst of the corona pandemic, there is a dispute about severance pay offers for flight attendants. The offers for voluntary resignation would be sent to the employees under great time pressure and without sufficient advice, criticized the managing director of the cabin union Ufo, Nicoley Baublies, on Wednesday in Frankfurt.
In addition, the severance payments offered are too low because the staff are already making significant savings in the Corona crisis. The Verdi union criticized that there were still no corresponding offers for the ground staff despite the high time pressure.
According to Ufo, flight attendants under the age of 55 should receive 0.75 times the monthly salary per year of employment. The contracts have been negotiated with the staff representatives. “We would have expected twice as much,” said Baublies. After 20 years, an employee with a salary of 5000 euros would receive a severance payment of 75,000 euros according to this model.
According to a Lufthansa spokesman, the severance pay factor ranges between 0.75 and 1 month’s salary per year of employment. That is well within the scope of current programs at other companies.
According to Baublies, flight attendants over 55 years of age have to decide whether to take early retirement at a discount. For cushioning, funds from a liquidated employee fund should also be used, but there is still no agreement on this. The trade unionist criticized the high time pressure that the company was building. “People should decide within four weeks whether to go to November.” At the same time, the internal pension advisors were sent on short-time work. In his estimation, of the 2800 or so candidates, not 100 would accept the offer, said Baublies.
“Of course, our experts are available to answer any questions,” replied the company spokesman. Several hundred individual offers have already been created. No statements can yet be made about the participation, as both severance programs are still running.
Like other airlines, the Lufthansa Group’s business crashed in the Corona crisis due to the greatly reduced flight offer. The company had to be saved from bankruptcy by the state and has far too many staff on board for long-term reduced demand. According to the latest information, around 27,000 of 128,000 jobs are to be cut worldwide, preferably through part-time and voluntary departures, but also through redundancies for operational reasons. / Ceb / DP / stw
