MUNICH (AFP) – A two-day strike by ground crew and security staff began yesterday at Munich airport, Germany’s second largest, cancelling hundreds of flights.
Only 100 of 830 scheduled takeoffs and landings went ahead as planned yesterday, an airport spokesman told AFP.
The workers represented by the Verdi union plan to continue the strike until midnight tonight.
Verdi is demanding an eight per cent pay rise for workers or at least EUR350 more per month, as well as higher bonuses for particularly stressful jobs and more days off. The union said ground and security staff made “an indispensable contribution to the safety and reliability of air traffic – around the clock, in all weather conditions”.
The increasing intensity of the work and ongoing staff shortages were a “considerable burden” on employees, it said.
The next round of talks with employers is scheduled for March 14.
The strike at Germany’s second-largest airport after Frankfurt comes at a busy time for travel, just ahead of the carnival season in the southern region of Bavaria. Workers have also been on strike at Hamburg airport since yesterday night.
However, with the exception of cancelled flights to Munich, Hamburg airport was able to “maintain flight operations as normal”, an airport spokeswoman said. Workers also went on strike at Cologne/Bonn and Duesseldorf airports on Monday.
