Lufthansa Makes New Offer to Vereinigung Cockpit Regarding Company Pension Plan

In the collective bargaining dispute over the company pension plan for cockpit employees at Lufthansa Classic and Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa’s negotiators have approached the union with an offer for a “comprehensive pension package” that includes the transfer of the transitional pension (ÜV) into the company pension plan (bAV), with the following wording:

“The union publicly presents the pension plans of, for example, KLM or BA as exemplary. These competitors have an integrated pension system and do not require a separate transitional pension. We are open to this option preferred by the VC and would like to resume negotiations with the union on this matter.

The particular disadvantage of the ÜV in the cockpit is that it lapses for colleagues who, due to their career or individual life plans, continue to fly until they reach the statutory retirement age.

It would also be important in such a model to ensure that planning certainty is maintained for the affected colleagues. Colleagues who are foreseeablely approaching retirement must be able to rely on their retirement benefits.

As part of the transition of the pension plan for cabin crew, we have taken a similar approach in the past and were able to enhance the company pension plan accordingly.

Roughly speaking, transferring the ÜV could result in an improvement of the company pension plan of up to 50 percent. This would not increase the company’s total costs for the pension systems, but would substantially improve the company pension plan.”