Under the influence of the overall environment, strikes have continued to break out in the European and American regions.

Recently, Luxembourg Cargo Airlines, the largest cargo airline in Europe, encountered its first major strike in 50 years.

This strike was initiated by the Luxembourg Federation of Christian Trade Unions (LCGB) and the Independent Luxembourg Federation of Trade Unions (OGBL), attracting a large number of employees to participate. It is reported that more than 700 workers gathered outside the company's headquarters.

The representative of LCGB emphasized that the workers are determined to strike until a satisfactory solution is found.

At present, the entire fleet of 30 cargo planes of Luxembourg Cargo Airlines has ceased operations, and the situation has reached an impasse. This strike has caused huge losses to the company, with a loss of $25000 per hour per aircraft.

Recently, Paul de Araujo from the LCGB union stated in an interview that pilots, ground staff, and technicians were actively involved and expressed satisfaction with the ongoing strike.

At the same time, Luxembourg Cargo Airlines' aircraft have grounded globally, including Luxembourg City, Baku, Bahrain, Dubai, Hong Kong, Anchorage, Chicago, Houston, and Mexico City.

At present, neither the management nor the union has publicly stated that any negotiations are imminent. The strike by Cargolux employees of Luxembourg Cargo Airlines is the result of the failure of negotiations on a new collective agreement.

The union announced that the current strike will be indefinite, which has put pressure on the leadership of the Luxembourg based freight company.

At the same time, employees of Luxembourg Cargo Airlines seem to resonate with these requirements. The LCGB union shared the position of the Luxembourg Airlines Pilot Association (ALPL) on this matter.

What are the reasons for the strike?

The fundamental difference between employers and unions lies in the structure of the planned salary increase, which is a serious disagreement. Although Cargolux plans to receive a 5% salary increase within five years, the union is demanding a 6% salary increase within four years.

Meanwhile, Richard Forson, the CEO of Cargolux, stated that the union's demands were "unreasonable".

Forson and Cargolux emphasized in refuting the union's position that employees' personal income was approximately 85000 euros last year, and this number will rise to 200000 euros within three years. This is part of the company's profit sharing incentive.

However, the unions do not agree with this view, as they believe that bonuses are not a fixed component of the salary structure and therefore cannot be compared with their requirements.

On the contrary, they emphasized that wages remained largely stagnant between 2003 and 2019. In addition, Paul de Araujo of the LCGB union pointed out that the upcoming investment makes future bonuses uncertain.

But bonuses are not the only source of debate between employers and unions. The indexation of wages is also under discussion. The union is seeking assurance that even if any future government changes the plan, wage indexation will be paid.

This may be a prescient issue, as it has been proven that a large amount of indexation is costly for employers, with some being deliberately postponed to mitigate the impact.

In some aspects, this has raised doubts about the continued feasibility of the index system. 

Forson responded that the company will protect employees in cases where the indexing system is restricted, but pointed out that this will not extend to cancelled or delayed indexing.