Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s largest, is set to become the next victim of a round of strikes organised by ver.di, the country’s second-largest union after IG Metall, which has over two million members and which represents 23,000 airport security workers. The union has organised a swathe of strikes that have hit airports across Germany, including Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart. The action is being taken in support of a current wage demand being made for all workers conducting security checks at airports across the country for a minimum basic hourly rate of €20.00 (US23.10). According to BDLS, who is acting on behalf of employers, this increase in pay amounts to an approximate 30% raise for some workers and instead is trying to negotiate a more realistic offer of a raise in pay of between 2% and 6.4%.
Ver.di. is calling for industrial action at Frankfurt to commence at 2 a.m. local time Tuesday morning and to end at 8 p.m. that same day (0100 – 1900 GMT). Ver.di has also confirmed it cannot rule out further industrial action at other airports. Last Thursday Düsseldorf — the country’s third-largest airport — saw 370 of its 580 planned departures canceled. In Stuttgart, 142 of the 270 take-offs and landings were canceled, while in Düsseldorf as many as 350 out of 570 were canceled. In Berlin, slightly over 90 at both airports were canceled. At Cologne-Bonn, 131 of almost 200 flights were cancelled. In total approximately 110,000 passengers were affected by industrial action at German airports on Thursday.
