The announced nationwide warning strike by security staff at airports began on Wednesday evening. The night shift at Cologne/Bonn Airport has gone on strike, said the responsible Verdi union secretary Özay Tarim. “Participation in passenger screening is 100 percent.” The industrial action at Düsseldorf Airport will start at midnight. The warning strike is scheduled to last until Thursday evening (midnight).
There are also strikes at the airports in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Stuttgart, Erfurt and Dresden. Munich and Nuremberg airports are not affected.
According to Cologne/Bonn Airport, around three quarters of the flights are canceled. In Düsseldorf, a third of the take-offs and landings were canceled; there will be 189 flights instead of around 290, as the airport announced. Cologne/Bonn Airport is also an important hub for cargo airlines. On Wednesday evening there was a long traffic jam of trucks at the gates of the air traffic area that still wanted to deliver their goods. For flights taking place on Thursday, travelers must be prepared for long waiting times at security checks. In order to speed up the checks, you are asked to keep hand luggage to a minimum.
According to estimates by the airport association ADV, around 1,100 flights nationwide are canceled or can only take off late. Around 200,000 passengers are affected. Verdi union secretary Tarim told the German Press Agency that they wanted to send a clear signal. The employers have so far behaved “unacceptably” in the negotiations. “We will now use employees to put pressure on employers so that we can finally make progress at the negotiating table.”
“Employees want real wage increases and not one-off payments”
The employee representative criticized the fact that a security company at Düsseldorf Airport had offered an extra payment of 200 euros gross so that employees could come to work despite the warning strike. Tarim said he saw the “strikebreaking bonus” as a provocation. “Employees want real wage increases and not one-off payments, which they don’t have much of in times of inflation.” You should solve the problem at the negotiating table instead of dragging it out with bonuses.
In the collective bargaining dispute, Verdi is demanding 2.80 euros more wages per hour, higher functional bonuses and overtime bonuses from the first hour of overtime. The new collective agreement should have a term of 12 months. The demands go too far for employers. Collective bargaining is scheduled to continue in Berlin on February 6th and 7th.