Amid the difficult situation still confronting the company,
Amid the difficult situation still confronting the company,
Together with the steps already taken like a recruitment freeze, the using-up of any remaining holiday entitlement and overtime, the reduction in extra flying hours for flight crews, more part-time offers and unpaid special leave, Lufthansa can expect to improve cash flow next year by at least 210 million euros.
The agreement encompasses the following points:
Collective pay agreements for ground and cabin staff are to be prolonged by seven months up to the end of October 2002.
The increase in basic pay for cockpit crews, agreed on for February 1 2002 at arbitration last June, is also to be deferred by seven months to September 1 2002. The unions and mediator can still reach a decision diverging from this.
Payment of half the 13th monthly salary for ground and cabin staff in May 2002 is to be suspended. Management and unions are to conduct talks in the first quarter of 2003 on suitably converting that payment into time/value assets. Should the Group return negative results in 2002, those talks will not be held until the first quarter of 2004.
The envisaged 2.8 per cent structural improvement in cockpit crew remuneration in May 2002 is to be deferred until October 2002. Management and unions are to hold timely talks on a further deferment up to year-end, depending on the actual situation.
In view of the particularly severe impact of the crisis on LSG/Sky Chefs, a working group is to draft additional measures to save costs and safeguard the future of the catering arm by the end of January 2002. Those measures will, above all, include the introduction of flexible working hour models and the employment of a bigger percentage of staff on flexible employment contracts.
As already reported, short time is to be introduced for cabin crews from November 1 2001 to the end of April 2002.
Should the negative trend continue, management and unions are to meet for talks on further measures warranted by the actual situation.
In view of these agreed measures with the staff, Lufthansa will not resort to any layoffs or dismissal of probationary staff up to year-end 2002. Young pilots completing their training by September 30 2002 are to be taken on the staff.
Costs will further be eased by the expected reduction in the headcount at the Lufthansa Group resulting from fluctuation or natural attrition as well as part-time employment offers and unpaid special leave. The Lufthansa employees in Germany in 2002 will be down on original planning by about 1,700, including about 700 at LSG/Sky Chefs in Germany.
`The measures agreed with the unions represent an important and also an indispensable contribution from our staff towards curbing the negative economic effects on Lufthansa from the ongoing crisis`, commented Lufthansa Chief Executive Human Resources Stefan Lauer. Our staff are playing a decisive role in giving Lufthansa and its employees a better perspective amid tough competition in a difficult phase. Ahead of us still lies a very long and arduous road, which we can master only with great and common effort.
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