Lufthansa wage accord for 30,000 ground staff

German carrier Lufthansa, reeling under a series of recent strikes, said Saturday it had reached a wage rise accord with services sector union Verdi covering 30,000 ground staff.

The accord gives a one-off payment of 2,250 euros ($2,350) and a 2.2 percent wage rise to ground staff and employees of IT subsidiary Lufthansa Systems, Lufthansa Service catering, Lufthansa Technik maintenance and Lufthansa Cargo freight service, the airline and Verdi said.

The collective bargaining accord runs to the end of 2017.

Ground staff at several key airports in Germany had answered a Verdi half-day strike call in late March, causing hours of delays.

Lufthansa then said in September it intended to reach an agreement ending the dispute by the end of November.