Lufthansa staff to go on strike after wage talks break downAugust 29, 2012 - 14:57 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Cabin staff at German airline Lufthansa are to go on strike, possibly as early as Thursday, Aug 30, after wage talks broke down this week, BBC News reported. "We'll strike tomorrow at the earliest," said the head of the UFO labour union, Nicoley Baublies. The union and the airline have been at loggerheads over the past year over the amount of hours worked at its hubs and low-cost airlines. Loss-making Lufthansa has said it will cut 3,500 jobs. Lufthansa shares fell 1.8% in Wednesday morning trading in Frankfurt, making the firm the biggest decliner in the benchmark Dax index. The union is seeking a pay increase of 5% for cabin staff for 15 months starting from January this year, after three years of no increases. Lufthansa's latest offer was for a pay increase of about 3.5%. Baublies also said that the airline had not assured that its staff would not be transferred to a cheaper contract if they move to a low-cost airline in the airline group. In April, Lufthansa completed the sale of loss-making UK airline BMI to IAG, the company that owns British Airways and Iberia. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Putin congratulates Pashinyan’s birthday Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his birthday on June 1. Opposition motorcade en route to Gyumri for large rally A motorcade of protesters headed by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is heading to the city of Gyumri. Ruling MPs, Foreign Minister talk Armenia-Azerbaijan processes MOs from the ruling Civil Contract party met with the Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the Armenian parliament. Russia: Armenia’s frozen membership weakens CSTO position in Caucasus A Russian envoy said any step that could alienate the CSTO member states from each other is “deeply wrong”. |