Tariff dispute: Airports and daycare centers – Verdi shows the warning strike muscles

In the public service’s collective bargaining conflict, the Verdi union increases the pressure again. After promotions in social stations, hospitals or at the garbage disposal, eleven larger airports in Germany are target of an all -day warning strike this Monday (March 10). Air traffic will come to a large extent in large parts: According to an initial estimate by the ADV airport association, more than 3,400 flights are expected to fail and around 510,000 passengers cannot start their trips as planned.

Verdi has called for the warning strike at the airports from the public service employees and ground traffic services, which usually clean, load and refuel the aircraft. 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 municipalities, in which the next round of negotiation is due on Friday, March 14th.

The warning strikes in other areas of the public service should also continue. On Friday, the union called primarily female -dominated professional groups to lay their work. Kitas, youth and social welfare offices were struck as well as clinics, nursing homes and social institutions. At least 30,000 employees took part in rallies and other promotions.

According to Verdi, the so-called Equal Pay Day on March 7 and the International Women’s Day on March 8th are concrete. “The strike day on the Equal Pay Day / Women’s Day is a clear signal for more wage justice and better working conditions in the social (women) professions in the public service and a reaction of the employees to the fact that there was no offer in the second round of negotiations,” explains the deputy Verdi chairwoman Christine Behle.

The union calls for eight percent more wages in the collective bargaining from the federal government and the municipalities, but at least 350 euros more, as well as three additional free days. Negotiations are being made for a total of 2.5 million employees. So far, employers have not submitted a specific offer. The third round of negotiation begins on March 14th in Potsdam. Public servants have been out of service for weeks.

“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 the Verdi-Vice Chairman 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. According to ADV, 800,000 passengers were already affected. 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.

Air traffic sector acid

“Eleven locations at the same time has a new dimension,” explains ADV general manager Ralph Beisel. The industrial action measures meant a horror scenario for the affected passengers and had “far -reaching consequences for individual mobility and economic processes.”

The strikes are not proportionate, says Joachim Lang, the managing director of the Air Transport Association BDL. “Here a complete transport branch is closed across the board and this, even though airports and airlines, but also gastronomy, retail and hotels are not collective bargaining partners. The tariff conflict is therefore carried out solely on the back of the passengers before the next round of negotiation is due.” Lang demands new strikes in the field of critical infrastructure.