Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo could face strike action as union members prepare to vote on industrial action, following seven failed rounds of negotiations over planned changes to company pension schemes.

The Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), the German Airline Pilots’ Association representing around 9,000 pilots, launched the ballot on the 12 September in response to the lack of progress on retirement benefits.

The ballot follows VC’s call for Lufthansa Group to “immediately” begin talks on the future structure of pension and transitional pension schemes for pilots.

Two collective agreements, the general pension deal (TV Rente), which expired at the start of 2025, and the transitional pensions agreement (TV ÜV), terminated in April 2025, have been open for renegotiation since May 2025.

The VC’s bargaining committee said it had already presented proposals but claims Lufthansa has repeatedly refused to compromise.

VC president, Andreas Pinheiro, argued that Lufthansa had seven opportunities for negotiations to “present a serious offer and did not take advantage of this opportunity”.

He argued that “it always follows the same pattern: the employer blocks and stonewalls, rejects everything, does not compromise – and then complains when we leave the negotiating table”.

VC vice president, Katharina Dieseldorff, added that if the association had seen “any sign” during the talks that negotiations with Lufthansa might succeed, the union wouldn’t have declared the negotiations a failure.

“Lufthansa could have made proposals – instead, there was no offer on the table during the negotiations that even rudimentarily addresses our demands,” she said, stressing that finding solutions requires goodwill from both sides to cooperate.

For pilots, pensions are a cornerstone of financial security, and the union argued that the company’s reluctance to negotiate is fuelling frustration among staff.

The ballot will run until 30 September 2025, and no industrial action is planned until the vote concludes.

In response to to the ballot, a Lufthansa spokesperson said: "We continue to focus on a negotiated solution. We will not comment on the specific content of the talks."

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