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Lufthansa ground, cabin staff to strike

BERLIN - Ground and cabin staff at German airline Deutsche Lufthansa have voted to go on strike from Monday over pay, threatening travel chaos at the height of the holiday season, Germany's Verdi union said on Friday.

"From Monday we will be taking industrial action," Erhard Ott, head of the Verdi services union, told reporters at a news conference held to announce the result of a strike ballot.

He said the mood among staff was "explosive" and said the strikes would start at 2200 GMT on Sunday. They could take place all over Germany.

Some 90.7 percent of the ground staff and cabin crews represented in the union voted for action.

Verdi is calling for a pay rise of 9.8 percent for its roughly 52,000 members. Flag carrier Lufthansa has offered an increase of 6.7 percent in two steps and a one-off payment.

At a time when Europe's biggest economy is seeing a spike in inflation, several labour unions are seeking bigger wage deals after restraint in recent years.

Pay increases already agreed this year include a 5.2 percent rise for steelworkers and 4.4 percent for employees in the chemicals industry, some of the largest increases since the mid-1990s. Inflation in June was 3.3 percent.