Union cancels Luthansa cabin crew strike

Cabin crew union Ufo announced Wednesday a renewed strike planned for Thursday and Friday would not get underway, signaling progress in the most recent talks with management.

The union had earlier threatened to hold walkouts later this week and possibly also next Monday in what would have been another round in an increasingly long-running bitter row between some parts of Lufthansa's employees and management.

Ufo said the strike had been called off, because Lufthansa executives had shown more willingness to debate cabin crew members' demands concerning early retirement and pension benefits.

Temporary truce?

However, the union warned that further agreements on jobs needed to be reached in order to prevent future industrial action.

Ufo added that both union officials and management attached great importance to what they called a "job summit" to be held on December 2nd. The meeting is to bring together executives and representatives of three unions: Ufo, Verdi and Cockpit.

Ufo said Wednesday the summit had to be prepared carefully to make sure it yielded positive results.