UPDATED听16-01-2019听16:40 (UTC +2)
German security workers have听continued their rounds of strikes this week in attempt to sway salary negotiations. The latest walkout came less than 10 days听after strikes at western German airports led to cancellations of over 600 flights. The new round of strikes by airport security personnel affected听eight major German airports on Tuesday, January 15, 2019,听sparking a wave of cancellations that affected听220,000 passengers, German officials have said.
At Frankfurt am Main, Germany精东影业 largest airport, security staffers, represented by the DBB and Verdi听trade unions, started their walkout at听2 a.m. local time (0100 UTC) on Tuesday, January 15, 2019.听But the action听did not end there.听Verdi, the union representing airport security workers,听launched 鈥渨arning strikes鈥� at听seven more airports:听Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Munich, Leipzig / Halle, Dresden and Erfurt.
The organization that the action is related to unsuccessful collective bargaining negotiations with BDLS, an organization representing Germany精东影业 airport security companies. Verdi is calling for hourly wage increase to 鈧�20 ($23) for passenger, freight, personnel and goods control workers, claiming BDLS has only offered an approximate 40 cents increase so far. The present rate is听鈧�17, 谤别辫辞谤迟蝉.听
Airport security workers strike at Frankfurt Airport
鈥� Mark Bergfeld (@mdbergfeld)
The full-day strike led to the cancellation of services across Europe as well as intercontinental flights.听According to , the walkouts 鈥減aralyzed鈥� airline network in Germany. 鈥淥nce again, the airports are abused as the scene in a labor dispute, in which they are not even tariff party,鈥� the association stated.
鈥淏race for impact鈥�
The strike action, however, did not come as a surprise. It had been announced in advance: , as well as (LHAB) (LHA) , which cancelled 500 flights, had urged passengers to prepare for major disruption as early as January 11, 2019.
Flight schedule disruptions to and from Frankfurt on 15 January 2019 due to a strike by security personnel at the airport Frankfurt. Please check here regularly for further information.
鈥� Lufthansa (@lufthansa)
On January 15, Frankfurt听airport claiming major disruptions and flight cancellations were to be expected all day. Passengers departing locally from Frankfurt were urged not to travel to the airport, while transfer processes for connecting passengers were said to听be 鈥減ossible鈥�, but with delays and disruptions.
As a spillover,听LHAB) (LHA) has anticipated 鈥渁 considerable amount of disruptions鈥� due to the strike at its hub, calling the action 鈥渦nacceptable鈥�:
鈥淎lthough all aviation partners agreed that we want to improve the situation for our passengers in 2019, the Verdi union is escalating this collective bargaining dispute disproportionately and to an unacceptable extent,鈥� Detlef Kayser, Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG for Airline Resources & Operations Standards is quoted as saying in a press release on January 11, 2019.
鈥淭his series of strikes can certainly no longer be described as warning strikes. It is also clear that Verdi has no interest in making its contribution to improving Germany as an aviation location. We already have the lowest quality security checks at the highest costs, compared to Europe and other countries around the world,鈥�
Meanwhile, Hanover airport about longer waiting times before the security checks, delays and flight cancellations. It distanced听itself from conflict with the union听by pointing out that 鈥渢he passenger controls at Hanover Airport are a sovereign task of the Federal Police, which uses private security companies鈥�.
Hamburg, Bremen, Munich, Dresden and Leipzig / Halle airports all warned passengers of 鈥渟ignificant鈥� delays and cancellations, advising passengers to contact their airlines.
Precedents and consequences
The security staff walkout at the aforementioned airports affected around 220,000 passengers, estimated. Around 135,000 passengers at Frankfurt Airport alone.
According to its operator Fraport, the airport had to cancel 617 out of around 1,200 scheduled flights that day over the strike action that lasted 18 hours, reported. Germany精东影业 second largest airport, Munich,听had to cancel around 100, mainly domestic flights. Bremen airport saw approximately two thirds of all flights being delayed or cancelled.
Last week, on January 7, 2019, a four-hour strike action听was staged at Berlin精东影业 Tegel and Sch枚nefeld airports, .
On January 10, security staff strikes were staged at D眉sseldorf, he country精东影业 third-largest airport, as well as听Cologne and Stuttgart airports. In D眉sseldorf, two-thirds of flights were cancelled that day, affecting about 60,000 passengers; in Cologne 130 out of 200 flights were听axed; in Stuttgart 142 out of 270,听reported citing听ARD TV .
Negotiations between Verdi and BDLS are expected to continue on January 23, 2019. If agreement is not reached, more strikes are expected to ensue. But for now, seems like things have gone back to normal as of January 16, 2019, with operations having resumed at the airports.
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