Berlin: 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 Monday.
The 24-hour walkout, which started at midnight, involved 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 cancelled, 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 travellers to expect a “greatly reduced flight schedule.”
The ver.di service workers union’s strike also targeted the Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Berlin, Duesseldorf, Dortmund, Cologne/Bonn, Leipzig/Halle, Stuttgart and Munich airports. At the smaller Weeze and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airports, only security workers were called out.
The union announced the strike Friday. But at Hamburg Airport, it added a short-notice walkout Sunday to the strike on Monday, 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 Friday, while the next round of talks for airport security workers is expected to start March 26.
AP