Lufthansa agrees to raise ground staff pay after strikes

BERLIN (Reuters) - Ground staff at German airline Lufthansa will get a pay rise of up to 18% in two stages, the Verdi union said on Thursday after hammering out details of a deal to avert further strikes ahead of the busy Easter travel season.

Lufthansa and the Verdi union both said they had agreed in principle to a pay rise over two years for the roughly 25,000 members of ground staff on Wednesday.

The sides brought in independent mediators to break an impasse in collective wage negotiations after their dispute led to repeated strike action, causing major disruptions at German airports.

Lufthansa said the average increase would be about 12.5%.

Verdi said wages would rise by 7% retroactively from Jan. 1, and from March 1, 2025, all employees would receive a basic amount of 150 euros and a further 2% pay increase.

Staff will also get a bonus to offset inflation of 3,000 euros in two tranches, with the first 2,000 euros being paid immediately and the remainder in November, said Verdi.

Strike action continued to plague the flag carrier in Austria, where Lufthansa's local subsidiary AUA cancelled 400 flights due to a strike by ground staff lasting from Thursday to midday Friday.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Writing by Rachel More and Madeline Chambers, Editing by Miranda Murray)