German Lufthansa votes for 1st strike in 13 years

BERLIN (Reuters) - A pay strike by ground crew and cabinstaff at Deutsche Lufthansa is expected to cause disruption attwo international airports in Germany on Monday after a keyunion voted overwhelmingly to walk off the job.

The Verdi union, which represents 52,000 air industryworkers, plans to start striking at midnight -- focusinginitially on the country's largest airport in Frankfurt and thenorth German hub of Hamburg.

Union officials said the unlimited strike, the first in 13years at Lufthansa, would affect all support areas -- fromcatering and cargo to maintenance and repair staff. Some 91percent of union members voted to strike, Verdi said on Friday.

"Our strike is not aimed at passengers -- our goal is toput financial pressure on the company," said Verdi spokesmanHarald Reutter on Sunday in comments aimed at defusing publicanger. "It's up to Lufthansa to decide how many flights arecancelled."

Earlier Verdi had been vague about where the strikes wouldstart. The union plans walkouts at Germany's 10 largestairports -- Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Duesseldorf,Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Hanover, Leipzig and Bremen.

Verdi, which has lost influence since the last Lufthansastrike in 1994, wants a 9.8 percent pay rise for one year.Lufthansa, Europe's second biggest airline by passengernumbers, is offering 6.7 percent over 21 months and a one-offpayment.

Lufthansa has said it will have to see where the strikeshappen before deciding how many domestic and internationalflights to cancel. It has said it hopes to juggle non-strikingstaff to limit the impact of the strike.

"We'll have to wait and see," a Lufthansa spokeswoman saidon Sunday. "The top priority is to try to limit the impact toas few passengers as possible."

Facing heavy criticism from political and industry leaders,the union is likely to limit the action to targeted strikes.

One analyst, Frank Skodzik of Commerzbank, was quoted inMonday's edition of Der Tagesspiegel newspaper as saying thestrike could cost Lufthansa five million euros per day.

HOLIDAY SEASON

Verdi is open to new talks if Lufthansa improves its offer,said union leader Erhard Ott. Wage talks broke down on July 10.

"We've got to do everything we can to prevent this strike,"said Klaus Lippold, a member of parliament and transport expertfor the Christian Democrats. "Not only to save the holidayseason but to prevent damage to Germany's air travel industry."

Rainer Wend, an economy expert in parliament for the SocialDemocrats, also spoke out against the strike.

"Even though one must accept a strike being a tool in alabour dispute, it's still unfortunate that innocent bystandersand holiday travellers will be hurt by the strike more than theunion's opponents," Wend told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Earlier this week, Lufthansa cancelled almost 1,000regional flights at its Eurowings and CityLine subsidiariesafter pilots walked out in a separate pay dispute.

At a time when Europe's biggest economy is experiencing aspike in inflation, several labour unions are seeking biggerwage deals after restraint in recent years.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)