Earlier this year, we watched as a two-day cabin crew strike caused chaos on Lufthansa flights for a period of 48 hours. Now, it seems as though tensions are flaring up again as the UFO union has warned it could strike over the holiday period.

The UFO cabin crew union represents cabin crew at a number of airlines in Germany. However, the union had trouble being recognized by the likes of the Lufthansa Group. A 48-hour strike changed this, prompting Lufthansa to enter talks with the union. Now, the union is threatening further strike action between Christmas and New Year.

Previous strike action

Lufthansa staff previously took strike action over a 48 hour period towards the start of November. Taking place from Thursday to Friday, the German flag carrier was forced to cancel some 1,300 flights. As a result, thousands of passengers were inconvenienced.

Following the strikes, Lufthansa agreed to meet with the UFO and discuss the union's concerns. Since then, both the union and Lufthansa have been holding meetings. The intentions of these talks were to reach an amicable solution for both parties with the UFO seeking a pay rise for the crew.

Lufthansa, Cabin Crew, Christmas Strike
The UFO says the conditions are not enough to protect the interests of employees. Photo: Lufthansa Group

Unsuccessful talks

It seems as though the talks being held between Germany's flag carrier and the UFO cabin crew union have been fairly unsuccessful from the union's point of view. In fact, a UFO spokesperson went as far as to tell Reuters "we failed", adding that no solution has yet been found between the two parties.

As a result, The Local reported that the union's vice-chairman, Daniel Flohr, commented: "We could now announce a strike at any time". However, Reuters goes on to add that the group has specifically ruled out striking from the 24th of December until the 26th of December. It seems as though the union does have Christmas spirit!

Further to the comments from the UFO union, a Lufthansa representative told Reuters "Lufthansa continues to expect that good solutions can be found for the 22,000 cabin crew members with regard to the arbitration issues".

Lufthansa A320neo
In 2016, Lufthansa, parent of Eurowings, became the launch customer for the Airbus A320neo. Photo: Lufthansa

With a huge number of people traveling in the days following Christmas, any strikes by cabin crew would inconvenience thousands of travelers, meaning that any strikes certainly wouldn't go unnoticed by Lufthansa. As a result, the union could think that threatening such action over the Christmas period is more likely to attract the attention of Lufthansa.

Do you think the UFO cabin crew union will go ahead and call strike action over the Christmas period? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!