The pilots’ strike at Lufthansa is hard to bear. The Cockpit union accepts the anger of vacationers who are stranded at the airport on their way to the best weeks of the year, as well as possible damage to business people.
In the corona crisis, the airline benefited more than many other companies from the tax-financed state aid. The support not only benefited the shareholders, but also the employees. The fact that first the ground staff and now the flight captains go into industrial action in the summer therefore has a bitter aftertaste.
But it is also true that the pilots have the law on their side: the right to strike naturally also applies to high earners. And anyone who thinks that divisional unions acted more aggressively than the big DGB competitors is wrong. It was the services trade union Ver.di that first sent security staff at German airports on warning strikes for days in the spring and then ground staff in the summer.
The fact that Ver.di loves labor disputes, which with little effort have huge effects far beyond the company on strike, was also shown by the wage struggle of the port workers. Because several thousand employees stopped work, dealers and companies throughout the republic were waiting for goods and primary products. A huge damage for the already crisis-ridden economy.
Such excesses of trade union power demonstrations at the expense of bystanders are unacceptable. The right to strike is guaranteed in the Basic Law. However, special rules should apply in areas of public interest such as transport infrastructure, waste disposal or energy supply.
When long rail strikes paralyzed train services a few years ago, the legislature reacted with the Collective Bargaining Act. It should serve the industrial peace that since then only the respective majority union is able to negotiate in a company area. But the law has not affected the willingness to go on strike: The union dwarf Cockpit is just as combative as the union giant Ver.di.
In order to reduce the risk of strikes such as the current pilots’ walkout, a mandatory arbitration procedure is needed in sensitive areas. An impartial officer often sees more clearly which collective bargaining agreement is appropriate. A strike would then only be possible as a last resort.
