BERLIN — Lufthansa was once a proud symbol of Germany Inc., standing for the quality and smooth functionality of Europe’s No. 1 economy. But that was before the last week, when a strike by the airline’s pilots stranded more than half a million passengers.

As of Wednesday, 4,461 flights had been scratched over six days, with no end in sight to a dispute over wages for pilots.

The Lufthansa pilots’ union, known as Cockpit, counts just a few thousand members, but they have the power to paralyze the airline as it grapples with myriad challenges, in particular the growing pains of its low-cost Eurowings affiliate.

Lufthansa’s troubles have become Exhibit A in demonstrating how the changes of the 21st century are eating away at decades of cooperation between labor and management that allowed Germany to rebuild and grow after World War II.