BERLIN, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- After a months-long wage dispute between Germany's largest airline Lufthansa and the flight attendants' union UFO, the two parties agreed on an extensive arbitration process on Friday.

As a first step, Lufthansa would extend the resting time for crew members between flights to Japan and South Korea and would make a one-time payment of 1,500 euros (1,657 U.S. dollars) to its employees.

The UFO, on the other hand, agreed not to call any further strikes until the arbitration proceedings were concluded.

"We are agreeing to look ahead above all else. Nevertheless, it is important for us to clear up the conflicts of the past," said Michael Niggemann, member of the executive board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

The agreement reached on Friday had been preceded by months of negotiations between the parties and several strikes, which caused about 2,000 flight cancelations.

"We are glad that we now have a framework to clarify the previous dispute with the help of third parties and to learn what we have to do differently in the future so that such a conflict does not escalate in such a way," said Daniel Flohr, vice chairman and negotiator of the UFO union. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)