The unions Vereinigung Cockpit and UFO are preparing for a strike at Lufthansa subsidiary Discover Airlines.

The strike ballots, which will run until Wednesday of next week, will start on Thursday, the unions announced on Wednesday. This is in response to the first collective bargaining agreement that Discover reached with rival union Verdi last week after negotiations with VC and UFO failed to produce any results. In VC's view, however, Verdi is not the legitimate representative of the approximately 1900 employees in the cockpit and cabin. VC and UFO members are being asked whether they are prepared to strike for better working conditions. "Our goals are collective agreements with good conditions," said VC boss Andreas Pinheiro.

(Report by Ilona Wissenbach, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)