Warning strikes at airports: there is no big chaos – economy

30,000 people should have romped around Hamburg Airport on Monday, including travelers and arrivals. It’s spring break in the Hanseatic city, and the snow that fell over the weekend doesn’t change that. However, those who wanted to travel by plane had to change their plans for a short time. Because for 24 hours almost nothing went at the airport: 244 flights were planned, including 123 departures and 121 arrivals. No more aircraft started regularly, and 55 landings were also canceled. Aviation security personnel went on strike after the Verdi union called for a walkout on Saturday. Air traffic was also almost at a standstill in Hanover, Bremen and Berlin.

A group of strikers in high-visibility vests held up a yellow banner with the inscription “Tariff rebels” at a Verdi rally in Hamburg. The dissatisfaction with the current wages is great: the union is demanding 10.5 percent more wages for the around 2.5 million employees in the federal and local public services nationwide, but at least 500 euros more a month. The last offer from the employer’s side is still a bit away from this requirement: It includes five percent more salary in two steps and a one-off payment of 2500 euros. Two rounds of negotiations have already passed without agreement, the third round has been agreed for the end of March in Potsdam. Warning strikes had already paralyzed several airports in Germany in January and February.

The union has been negotiating with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) for several years about better pay and working conditions. The fronts seem to have hardened. Among other things, it is about surcharges for night, Saturday, Sunday and public holiday services as well as better collective bargaining arrangements for paying overtime for security and service staff. “We don’t understand the strike at all and it also harms the progress of the negotiations,” said the head of the BDLS collective bargaining committee, Rainer Friebertshäuser. The background to the warning strikes are also the collective bargaining for employees in the public sector at the federal and local levels, as well as local negotiations for employees in ground handling services.

Around 200 starts were canceled in Berlin on Monday and 35 in Hanover. The great chaos at the airports was largely absent. Airports advised travelers to check with their companies. Many travelers were able to reschedule the announcement on Saturday, they didn’t even get to the terminals. Coaches drove people from a Hamburg terminal to other airports, for example to Rostock, Osnabrück, Münster or Dortmund, who then started their flight from there.

The Bundesliga basketball team at the Towers Hamburg also had to make major detours: For their Eurocup game on Tuesday evening in Tel Aviv, they were unable to fly to Israel via Warsaw as planned. Instead, they traveled by train to Amsterdam in order to fly from there to Poland and on to Tel Aviv. Delay on arrival: almost seven hours.

Air travelers will probably have to bring more time with them on Tuesday as well

The fact that some planes were still flying in the affected regions was due to the airlines, who needed their machines at other locations and therefore sent out empty flights. Around 200 landings were planned for Monday in Berlin, of which around two-thirds still took place, and machines also landed in Hamburg.

The 24-hour warning strike at the airports is due to end at midnight. But it probably has an impact beyond that: If you want to fly from Hamburg on Tuesday, for example, you should plan more time at the airport, says a spokeswoman. Due to the rebookings, a higher number of passengers is to be expected. Even check-in the night before is not possible on Monday due to the work stoppages, which should make the terminals even fuller on Tuesday.

In any case, the following now applies: after the strike is before the strike. As early as Tuesday, the Üstra bus and train services in Hanover are to be on strike all day. Further work stoppages are planned in individual federal states, for example in the healthcare sector.

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