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On Thursday, employees responsible for security at several major airports in Germany went on strike for one day in order to increase pressure in a disagreement over pay. This resulted in numerous flight cancellations.
The Ver.di labor union, who declared the strike on Tuesday afternoon, urged employees to participate in the strike at 11 airports: Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Hannover, Dresden, Bremen and Erfurt.
Airports located in Bavaria, such as Munich which is the second busiest in the country, were not impacted.
Before the strike began, all departures for the day from Berlin, Hamburg, and Stuttgart were cancelled. Additionally, approximately four-fifths of flights in Cologne and one-third in Duesseldorf were also cancelled.
The administrator of the busiest airport in Germany, located in Frankfurt, announced that the security checkpoints outside of the transit area will remain shut. They recommended that individuals who were planning to depart from that airport not come. However, there were options for transferring passengers. Lufthansa had arranged to run most of their scheduled flights, including those going to other countries.
According to German news agency dpa, the Airport operator group ADV predicted that approximately 1,100 flights would be canceled or delayed, impacting around 200,000 passengers.
Three attempts at bargaining have been unsuccessful in reaching a salary deal for approximately 25,000 security personnel. Ver.di is requesting a wage increase of €2.80 per hour for all staff and advocating for additional compensation for working overtime to begin after the first extra hour.
The association representing employers has proposed a 4 percent increase for this year and a 3 percent increase for next year. They have also made concessions regarding the timing of overtime bonuses. Negotiations are scheduled to continue on February 6th.
Short “precautionary strikes” are frequently used in contract discussions in Germany. In a different disagreement, ver.di has declared a strike for today (2 February) on public transportation systems in many areas of the country.
A disagreement regarding working hours and wages led to extensive strikes last month, causing disruptions to Germany’s passenger train services. The GDL union, which represents a large number of train drivers in the country, concluded a five-day strike on Monday, earlier than expected, after reaching an agreement to resume negotiations with the government-owned railway company, Deutsche Bahn.
Source: independent.co.uk
