Verdi is continuing its strikes at airports and wants to largely paralyze the airports in Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart on Friday. The aviation security staff, who control passengers, staff, goods and cargo, as well as public sector workers, were called on a day-long warning strike, the union said on Wednesday. Due to shift work, the walkout in Cologne/Bonn begins in the night from Thursday to Friday and ends in some areas in the early hours of Saturday morning. Passengers would have to expect delays, waiting times and flight cancellations.
The airport announced that many of the originally planned 368 take-offs and landings at Düsseldorf Airport were canceled. After an emergency service agreement with the unions, an emergency operation will be maintained. According to an airport spokesman, only a few relief and ambulance flights will be processed. A significantly reduced flight plan for the day of the strike is being worked out with the airline partners.
Only security landings, medical flights and military flights could be carried out in Stuttgart, the airport said. A regular 169 flight movements were planned for Friday, and around 20,000 passengers are affected by the warning strike. The airport recommended getting information from the airline and not coming to the airport.
“The employees are putting pressure on the employers with the strikes, because in the previous negotiations no acceptable offer was made either in the public service or in the aviation security area,” said Andrea Becker, Verdi regional department head in North Rhine-Westphalia. On Monday, the union had already largely paralyzed flight operations at the northern German airports of Berlin, Hanover, Hamburg and Bremen. The Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) had described the industrial dispute as damaging to the progress of the negotiations.
Lufthansa complains about location disadvantage
Verdi has struck airports several times in the ongoing wage conflict. In view of the fact that flight operations have almost come to a standstill, air traffic managers are calling for emergency service agreements for airports. It is questionable whether critical infrastructure such as airports could be paralyzed for a whole day, said the head of Frankfurt airport operator Fraport, Stefan Schulte. “This discussion must be held.” He is also President of the Airport Association ADV. Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr recently warned that the strikes were beginning to “become a real locational disadvantage for the German hubs”. As is usual in other countries, agreements on emergency services and notice periods for work stoppages would make sense.
Emergency service agreements are already common practice, including at airports, as stated by Munich Airport and Verdi. “It’s part of industrial action law,” said Wolfgang Pieper, who is responsible for nationwide negotiations on aviation security at Verdi. As a rule, however, only a small number of flights are exempt from the strike. In Munich, during the warning strike on February 17, in addition to some relief flights to Turkey because of the earthquake, around 50 flights were dispatched in connection with the Munich Security Conference, an airport spokesman said. The latter was settled without consultation with the union, since there were enough staff who did not take part in the labor dispute.