Pilots are on course to beat inflation

German airline Lufthansa’s 4,400 pilots have agreed a two-stage deal worth 5.5% over 18 months.

Signed on 29 January and running until 31 March 2009, the settlement begins with a 2.5% pay rise backdated to October 2007, to be followed by a 3.0% increase backdated to last month.

This increase is well above the German inflation rate, which in January was 2.7%. It is also higher than most pay rises agreed in 2007, which the union-linked research institute WSI estimates to have averaged 2.2%.

Lufthansa director Stefan Lauer said the deal “was within acceptable margins” given the company’s good results and “our employees’ team performance”.

Meanwhile, both the executive and the negotiating committee of Germany’s GDL rail union have formally approved the proposed deal for drivers at train company Deutsche Bahn (see last month’s Workplace Report). The agreement – involving an 8.0% increase in March, another 3.0% in September and an €800 one-off payment – must now be endorsed by the union’s members.