Warning strikes paralyze air traffic at several German airports

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In Hamburg, Hanover, Bremen and Berlin, numerous workers stopped work late on Sunday evening, spokesmen for the Verdi trade union said. Air traffic came to an almost complete standstill at the affected locations on Monday.

The labor dispute likely affected other locations as well. Airports advised travelers to contact their companies.

According to airport information, about 200 departures were canceled at BER near Berlin alone. About 27,000 passengers were affected there. About a third of the approximately 200 planned landings failed. The terminals remained largely empty. A few travelers stood dazed in front of the signs or sat down on the many free benches to wait a long time.

There were also dozens of outages in Hanover and Bremen. In Hamburg there were more than 120. The Bundesliga basketball team Veolia Towers was also among those affected. The team had to find another route for a match in Israel.

Lufthansa announced that it wanted to operate the outgoing flights to Berlin and Hamburg in any case according to plan. However, business travelers who wanted to leave Berlin or Hamburg had to look for an alternative.

The background to the warning strikes is collective bargaining for public sector workers at the federal and local levels. There are also local bargaining for ground handling employees and national collective bargaining for aviation security employees.

The union is demanding 10.5 percent more pay, but at least $500 more per month, for about 2.5 million workers in federal and local public services across the country. Employers offer five percent more in two steps and one-off payments of 2500 euros. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for the end of March.

For example, for aviation security guards at BER, this involves an allowance for night, weekend and holiday services. Corresponding negotiations with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) have been underway for years. The union criticized the warning strikes as disproportionate. “We do not understand the strike at all and it also harms the progress of the negotiations,” said the head of the BDLS collective bargaining committee, Rainer Friebertshäuser.

The ADV airport association already criticized the labor dispute over the weekend. “The announcement came again at short notice. The affected passengers hardly get the chance to look for alternative travel options.”

The warning strikes could be the prelude to further work stoppages in other transport sectors. For example, the railway union EVG is negotiating new wage agreements with Deutsche Bahn and 50 other companies. By March 23, she will have met each of these companies at least once.

An EVG spokesperson said over the weekend that an assessment would then be made and further measures would be decided. The “Bild am Sonntag” had reported that the EVG and Verdi planned a joint warning strike for March 27, paralyzing the transport sector.

(SDA)

Source: Blick