Tariff dispute: Verdi wants to paralyze eleven German airports with warning strikes

Flight passengers have to prepare for flight cancellations and delays at all major airports in Germany on Monday. The reason is an all -day warning strike, to which the Verdi union called up the employees of public service and ground traffic services. The airports Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin-Brandenburg and Leipzig-Halle are affected.

The background is the collective bargaining dispute with the federal government and the municipalities, in which the next round of negotiation is due in mid -March. In the once municipal airport operators, a larger part of the staff is employed according to the tariff rules of public service. An industry agreement is also negotiated in parallel for soil traffic services. Most recently, employees in health and nursing homes as well as in kindergartens and other social institutions.

“We see ourselves forced to be forced to warning strike, since the employers have so far not submitted an offer in the ongoing collective bargaining for the employees of the public service and have not shown any willingness to meet our legitimate claims,” ​​explains Verdi-Vice Chairman Christine Behle. The actions were announced early to enable passengers to provide planning security.

The 24-hour strike is scheduled to start on Monday at 00:00 and will continue until 11:59 p.m. The strikers in Frankfurt should meet for a rally in the morning.

In the current tariff round, the airports in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Munich were strike, where there were numerous flight cancellations. At Frankfurt Airport, the public staff last held a warning strike in March 2023 – at the same time coordinated with the railway and traffic union (EVG) at the same time.

Eight percent and three days off

Verdi calls for a tariff increase in a volume of eight percent, but at least 350 euros more per month, and higher surcharges for work to be stressed and unfavorable. The training allowances and internship fees are to be raised by 200 euros per month. The union also demands three additional days off.

Employers have rejected these claims as unavailable. The collective bargaining will continue on March 14 to 16, 2025 in Potsdam.

Air traffic sector acid

Lufthansa and the ADV airport association have criticized the strikes at the nodes of the transport infrastructure. “Two-day strikes that perform German metropolitan regions from international air traffic have long since had nothing to do with warning strikes,” said ADV general manager Ralph Beisel according to the warning strikes in Munich and Hamburg.