Since April 2014 Lufthansa‘s cockpit personnel has gone on strike twelve times. Now the pilot trade union „Cockpit“ has announced a 13th strike, without naming a date. Possible that even more will follow. The pilots are fighting for the preservation of their wages and their generous pension schemes. Lufthansa pilots can retire at the age of 55, while still receiving 60 percent of their income.
More and more people, including other Lufthansa employees, no longer feel sympathetic for the pilots and their claims. This is damaging the image of the airline. According to a survey by the Ketchum Pleon agency, 58 percent of the respondents say their image of the airline is damaged. Every third person says the damage is long-term. The strikes and thus worries about the company's image have been a reoccurring topic in the media over the last years.
Photo: Boris Roessler/dpa
Lufthansa‘s PR strategy at the moment is to make the public understand it is not the organization‘s fault. The Lufthansa spokesperson said: „We are disappointed. We are also surprised because we were in conversation with the organization, offered concrete dates for workgroups.. This is the 13th threat to strike within 18 months. I really hope that in the interest of our customers, in the interest of our employees and in the interest of our organization that future offers for talks will be accepted.
However, according to Ketchum Pleon only 19 percent believe Lufthansa is responsible for the reoccurring strikes. According to the market research institution YouGov only one third of the population are understanding of the pilots. 55 percent say that the strikes are not proportionate any more and one fourth of the people cannot understand the reasoning for the strikes anymore at all. But Lufthansa‘s reputation is suffering non-the-less and it is probable that the customers will drift away.
How could Lufthansa save it's image if the public already believes the strikes not the company's fault to begin with?
Luisa Martens
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