With the warning strike, the Verdi union wants to “send a really strong signal”. Almost 2,340 flights were canceled as a result.
A all-day warning strike by Verdi has started at seven German airports, which has largely paralyzed air traffic. The airport association ADV expects around 2,340 flights and around 295,000 affected passengers to be canceled by Friday evening. “It’s regarding sending a really strong signal,” said Deputy Verdi Chairwoman Christine Behle on Friday morning on Inforadio.
“We have a catastrophic labor shortage.” Because of the bad job conditions and low pay, many workers turned their backs on the airports. “If nothing happens now in terms of remuneration, then we will all face another summer of chaos.” The shortage of staff had led to long queues, massive delays and thousands of flight cancellations in the 2022 holiday season.
Flights from Austria to Germany are also cancelled
Some of the strikes in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Dortmund, Hanover and Bremen started with the night shift on Thursday and led to the first flight cancellations in the evening. At most of the affected airports, regular flight operations have come to a virtual standstill, with only individual flights or special connections taking place. This means that there will be no flights from Austrian airports to Germany on Friday.
It was very quiet at the German airports. “This morning the terminals were swept empty,” said a spokeswoman for Hamburg Airport, where no take-offs or landings take place. Very few of the approximately 32,000 affected passengers appeared on site. “The airlines and all partners at the location have prepared as well as possible for the Verdi strike and informed the passengers at an early stage.”
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The AUA mother Lufthansa completely stopped flight operations at its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich on Friday and canceled a total of over 1300 flights. Airlines and airports speak of an unprecedented escalation. “Verdi is completely overstepping the mark here and carrying out the collective bargaining conflict on the backs of the passengers,” argues the president of the aviation lobby BDL, Jost Lammers. “An entire country is to be cut off from international air traffic in an unreasonable manner,” the airport association ADV also complained. The passengers would become the “plaything of the Verdi strike tactics”.
Verdi boss threatens: “The next strikes will have a different dimension”
Verdi boss Frank Werneke threatens before the next round of negotiations in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” (FAS): “The next strikes will have a different dimension.” Should the employers submit a really good offer next week, an agreement can be reached quickly, emphasized Werneke. Otherwise, the current warning strikes are only a foretaste.
Verdi has called on public sector employees, ground staff and aviation security staff to go on strike. The employees jointly put pressure on the respective employers because no progress had been made in the previous negotiation rounds, said Behle. She advocates not only higher wages, but also better working conditions.
Airports that are not affected are helping out
Airlines now have to cancel flights, rebook passengers to other days or the train. Some connections might be diverted to unaffected airports. Düsseldorf Airport, for example, handles around 20 take-offs and landings for Germany’s largest airport in Frankfurt.
The strike also affects the Munich Security Conference, which is attended by high-ranking politicians and diplomats from all over the world. In addition to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US Vice President Kamala Harris, many heads of government, defense and foreign ministers are expected. Flights in the course of the security conference should not be affected by the strike at Munich Airport. However, participants who do not travel with government planes must find alternatives.
(APA/DPA)
