BERLIN (AP) – A one-day strike by workers at 13 German airports, including the Frankfurt and Munich hubs and all the country’s other main destinations, caused the cancelation of most flights yesterday.
The 24-hour walkout, which started at midnight, involves public-sector employees at the airports as well as ground and security staff. At Frankfurt Airport, 1,054 of the day’s 1,116 scheduled takeoffs and landings had been canceled, German news agency dpa reported, citing airport traffic management.
All of Berlin Airport’s regular departures and arrivals were cancelled, while Hamburg Airport said no departures would be possible. Cologne/Bonn Airport said there was no regular passenger service and Munich Airport advised travelers to expect a “greatly reduced flight schedule.”
The ver.di trade union, representing service workers, staged a strike that affected major airports including Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Cologne/Bonn, Leipzig/Halle, Stuttgart, and Munich.
At the smaller Weeze and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airports, only security workers participated in the strike.
The union announced the strike on Friday. But at Hamburg Airport, it added a short-notice walkout on Sunday to the strike yesterday, arguing that it must ensure the measure was effective.
The so-called “warning strike,” a common tactic in German wage negotiations, relates to two separate pay disputes: negotiations on a new pay and conditions contract for airport security workers, and a wider dispute over pay for employees of federal and municipal governments.
The latter already has led to walkouts at Cologne/Bonn, Duesseldorf, Hamburg and Munich airports.
Pay talks in that dispute are due to resume on Friday, while the next round of talks for airport security workers and staff is expected to start on March 26.
