More than 1,100 flights and almost 200,000 passengers at eleven German airports will be affected by a strike by security personnel called for today by the service sector union Ver.di, due to the stalemate in wage negotiations. The employees called to strike work in the control of passengers, personnel, luggage, merchandise, cargo and in service areas.
The strikes take place in Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. No planes will take off from Berlin, Hannover and Hamburg and landings may also be affected. It is a situation that is repeated in other points.
At the moment, in Frankfurt, which initially planned movements with some 135,000 passengers for today, some 300 flights have already been canceled and more cancellations could occur throughout the day, reported the airport manager Fraport.
The union, which negotiates with the Confederation of Aviation Safety Companies (BDLS) for some 25,000 employees of the sector throughout the country, argues that no agreement has yet been reached in the three rounds of collective bargaining to increase the salaries of personnel of commercial airport security.
Ver.di’s chief negotiator, Wolfgang Pieper, indicated that the employer’s association has shown itself willing to present a possible offer, although subject to the condition that the union accepts an arbitration procedure. The union, however, rejects preconditions for negotiating.
Ver.di demands 2.80 euros more in salary per hour, greater functional complements and bonuses for overtime from the first overtime hour during a period of validity of the collective agreement of twelve months, with which it seeks compensation for employees for the loss of purchasing power due to inflation. The employer’s possible offer foresees salary increases of 4% in 2024, which corresponds to about 0.55 euros more per hour in the lowest salary group and about 0.82 euros in the highest. In 2025, another increase of 3% is expected, equivalent to about 0.43 and 0.64 euros more per hour, respectively. For Pieper, “the offer is totally insufficient, since it does not take into account at all the high inflation of the last two years,” nor the increase in bonuses demanded by the union.
The protest at the airports comes shortly after the strike in the railway system, which paralyzed transportation for several days.
