Warning strike by security personnel: No starts at BER

Weekend surcharges and better paid overtime – that’s what the ver.di trade union is negotiating with aviation security companies this week. Employees at the capital’s airport BER and again in Hamburg stopped work.

At Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER), the warning strike by security personnel began early in the morning. From 3:30 a.m., numerous employees in aviation security, in passenger control and in personnel and goods control stopped working.

Because of the strike, all around 220 planned departures and 72 of 240 arrivals were canceled at BER for today, according to an airport spokesman. The airline decides whether planes will arrive, said an airport spokesman. Passengers are asked to get information about their trips from the airlines. Operations will be back to normal tomorrow. The trade union ver.di had called for a warning strike, which is expected to last until midnight.

Numerous flights canceled in Hamburg

According to ver.di, 31 of 160 planned departures at Hamburg Airport also had to be canceled due to a strike. Here, the union had called on the employees of the handling company Aviation Handling Services Hamburg (AHS) to stop work at very short notice – they are responsible for check-in and boarding at various airlines such as Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines. AHS was therefore responsible for 84 flights on Monday.

The airport said there could be further cancellations and significant delays. Arrivals are expected to go as planned.

With the strike, Ver.di wants to increase the pressure on the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS), with whom it is negotiating surcharges for unfavorable working hours, for example on weekends. In addition, there is a dispute about rules for paying overtime.

“We once again urge the BDLS to submit a negotiable offer on April 27th and 28th and not to play for time, otherwise there is a risk of further strikes in air traffic in May and at Pentecost,” said ver.di board member Wolfgang Pieper .

Warning strikes at several airports beforehand

The action at the capital’s airport joins a now long list of warning strikes, especially in traffic, in recent weeks. Most recently, the airports in Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden were on strike last week. The railway and transport union also paralyzed rail traffic nationwide for hours on Friday.

The airports, which are not sitting at the negotiating table themselves, are reacting increasingly angrily to the numerous strikes and flight cancellations. The airport association ADV announced that tens of thousands of passengers were again affected by hundreds of canceled flights. “The right of the trade unions to be allowed to carry out warning strikes before an arbitration is carried out ad absurdum by the ongoing succession of strikes,” said ADV managing director Ralph Beisel.