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Lufthansa strike to continue if flight attendants' requests not met

Xinhua, November 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

German airline Lufthansa's flight attendants union said on Monday that its strike would continue on Tuesday following days of walkouts that forced Lufthansa to cancel over 1,700 flights.

UFO, the union which represents Lufthansa's cabin crew, announced that its members would continue their strike on Tuesday in airports in Frankfurt, Duesseldorf and Munich.

In Frankfurt and Duesseldorf, flight attendants are to stop working from 4:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) local time to 11:00 p.m. (2200 GMT). In Munich, the strike is to start at 5:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) and last until midnight (2300 GMT).

It will be the fourth day of strikes for Lufthansa's cabin crew. On Monday, the airline canceled 929 flights due to the action, affecting 113,000 passengers.

Lufthansa and its cabin crew have been in dispute over early retirement benefits. The latest negotiations broke down last Thursday and flight attendants ceased working last Friday.

The union threatened that the strike would last until Nov. 13 should Lufthansa not make concessions.

Until now, the strike has lasted for three days, affecting over 1,700 short and long-haul flights and 208,000 passengers.

The company said on Sunday its top management would discuss the consequence of the current strike which was "without precedent in Lufthansa history".

Facing fierce competition from budget airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair, Lufthansa is trying to cut employee benefits in order to reduce operating costs.

The measures have triggered various disputes between the company and different trade unions. Since April 2014, Lufthansa's pilots have walked out 13 times which cost the company over 300 million euros (about 322 million U.S. dollars). Over 1,000 Lufthansa flights were canceled in September due to the latest pilots' strike. Endit