International Shia News Agency

BBC/ German faces more transport strikes

SHAFAQNA (International Shia News Association) – Pilots at Germany’s Lufthansa airline are set to walk out again on Monday just as train drivers end their weekend of strike action.

The airline has cancelled 1,450 flights scheduled between midday Monday and 2300 Tuesday.

Pilots want the airline to reconsider plans to alter their pension provisions.

German rail travellers also faced cancellations and delays over the weekend as strikes hit the railways

Only about a third of inter-city trains were running. The two strikes are over unrelated issues.

The pilot’s union Vereinigung Cockpit called out its members at Lufthansa’s budget airline, Germanwings, for a 12-hour stoppage last week.

“Regrettably Lufthansa has not acted on the compromise proposals of VC after seven strikes now since April this year and is stonewalling,” the union said in a statement.

200,000 grounded

The union is calling on Lufthansa to reconsider its decision to raise the age that they can retire from 55.

The company has offered to retain the scheme for existing members but not to extend it to new recruits.

The stoppage is expected to affect short-haul and medium-haul flights for more than 200,000 passengers. Lufthansa said it hoped to be able to operate a third of its flights.

Germany’s government is expected to produce a draft law later this year aimed at stopping small numbers of employees paralysing large parts of the country’s infrastructure through strike action.

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