There will also be strikes at Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf airports on Thursday
10:07 p.m.: Passengers at Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf airports must expect significant restrictions and waiting times on Thursday. The Verdi union has called on employees in the aviation security sector to go on all-day warning strikes. Verdi announced this on Tuesday. Employees who work in passenger screening, people and goods screening, cargo screening and in service areas should therefore stop working.
With a view to the warning strike on Thursday, Cologne/Bonn Airport announced that significant disruption to flight operations and flight cancellations were to be expected. “Passengers who have booked a flight to or from Cologne/Bonn for Thursday are asked to check the status of their flight with their airline or tour operator before traveling to the airport,” it said. A total of 103 passenger flights are regularly planned at Cologne/Bonn Airport on Thursday – 52 take-offs and 51 landings.
Düsseldorf Airport also recommends that all passengers check with their airline or tour operator whether their flight is taking place as planned. “The strike will lead to disruptions to flight operations. Passengers must expect delays and flight cancellations,” the airport announced on Tuesday evening. Around 290 take-offs and landings are regularly planned for Thursday at North Rhine-Westphalia’s largest airport in Düsseldorf.
According to the union, the warning strike at Cologne/Bonn Airport should start in personnel and goods control late on Wednesday evening with the start of the night shift, and in passenger control at midnight. This was announced by a spokesman for Verdi. In Düsseldorf, the industrial action begins at midnight, and in passenger control at around 3 a.m. The strike is scheduled to end around midnight on Friday night.
According to the union, there are a total of more than 2,600 employees in the security area at the two airports who are responsible, among other things, for checking passengers, goods and boarding passes on behalf of the federal police and the airport operator. The union estimates that around 1,100 people will be on duty on Thursday.
There will also be strikes on Thursday at Hamburg, Bremen, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt, Frankfurt/Main and Stuttgart airports. Verdi is negotiating nationwide with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) on behalf of around 25,000 industry employees. No agreement has been reached in previous rounds of negotiations. The union is demanding 2.80 euros more wages per hour, higher functional bonuses and overtime bonuses from the first overtime hour with a term of the collective agreement of twelve months.
“Our goal is to sustainably compensate for the loss of purchasing power of employees. The work of the aviation security forces must remain financially attractive so that the urgently needed skilled workers can be recruited and retained. “That is why the price increases of the last two years, especially those for food and energy, as well as the forecast price increase in 2024 must be offset and there must be a real increase in wages,” said Verdi negotiator Wolfgang Pieper.
All departures from Berlin and Hamburg on Thursday canceled
Tuesday, January 30th, 7:03 p.m.: Due to a warning strike by aviation security forces, no passenger flights will take off at the airports in Hamburg and Berlin on Thursday. The airport companies in the two cities announced this on Tuesday. This means that 170 take-offs will be canceled at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), and 126 departures will be canceled in Hamburg. The Verdi union had called on employees nationwide who work in passenger and goods screening to go on an all-day warning strike on Thursday. This is likely to paralyze air traffic in large parts of Germany.
Verdi is calling for almost nationwide warning strikes in public transport on Friday
Monday, January 29th, 3:07 p.m.: The Verdi union has called for all-day warning strikes in local public transport in almost all federal states next Friday. “Since collective bargaining has now taken place in all federal states and has not produced any results, now is the time to put more pressure on employers,” said Verdi’s deputy federal chairwoman, Christine Behle, in Berlin on Monday. Only Bavaria is not affected by the strikes.
Passengers will once again face significant restrictions this Friday, especially in rush hour traffic. It was only this Monday that the German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) prematurely ended its multi-day strike at Deutsche Bahn. A peace obligation now applies there until March 3rd. However, Verdi labor disputes are still possible in local and regional transport.
Except in Bavaria, the union is negotiating in parallel with the municipal employers’ associations in all federal states about new collective agreements for public transport employees. According to Verdi, more than 130 municipal companies in cities and districts as well as a total of 90,000 employees are affected by the collective bargaining round. During the first round of negotiations last week, no solution was reached in any region.
Negotiations are taking place in all affected federal states at the same time. In terms of content, however, the demands are very different. In most countries it is about the so-called collective agreements. Above all, they regulate the working conditions for employees. At the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), for example, Verdi is demanding, among other things, longer turning times, holiday pay and more vacation. “The burden on employees and the staff shortage in public transport have increased more and more, and the work pressure is getting greater and greater,” the union announced a few days ago. “So solutions must be found quickly to bring about relief.”
Things are more complicated in Brandenburg, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. This is also about remuneration, i.e. higher wages and salaries. In Brandenburg, Verdi wants to get 20 percent, or at least 650 euros, more for local transport workers. The term of the collective agreement should be twelve months.
Warning strike at Leipzig-Halle and Dresden airports at the beginning of the week
Sunday, January 28th, 10:53 a.m.: Numerous flights are canceled at Leipzig-Halle and Dresden airports due to a warning strike at the beginning of the week. The Verdi union has called on the employees of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG to go on strike for 30 hours from Sunday at 6 p.m. “There will be severe restrictions on passenger traffic,” the airport company announced on its website. For more information about the respective flight connections, passengers should contact their airline or tour operator, it said.
Most flights to and from Leipzig and Dresden on Sunday evening and Monday have been canceled, as can be seen from an overview of the airports on the Internet. These included flights between Leipzig and Istanbul, Dubai, Vienna, Frankfurt and Munich as well as connections between Dresden and Zurich, Munich, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt.
According to Verdi, collective bargaining has not yet brought any rapprochement. Negotiator Paul Schmidt explained that employees’ wages were up to a quarter lower than those at other airports. The employer offered an inflation compensation payment of 1,200 euros and a wage increase of 1.5 percent. However, at the same time, days off, surcharges and special payments are to be canceled and working hours extended through a “future collective agreement” as part of the restructuring of the airport company. Schmidt: “That’s an absolute disgrace.”
The union is demanding inflation compensation of 3,000 euros and a fixed amount of 650 euros more per month for all employees. This is neither compatible with the company’s economic situation nor with the necessary restructuring processes, explained Flughafen AG spokesman Uwe Schuhart. “Strikes that could disrupt or even paralyze passenger and freight operations will exacerbate the tense situation.”
According to the information, the strike is expected to have “serious impacts” on the entire operation – including freight traffic. According to its own information, Leipzig-Halle Airport is the fourth largest air cargo hub in Europe. According to Verdi, emergency operations have been agreed with the airport operator, for example to avert danger to life and limb and to secure medically important transports.
The strike is expected to last until midnight on Tuesday.
Bahn and GDL want to reach a collective bargaining agreement by March
2:38 p.m.: According to the information, the railway and the GDL have agreed on a peace obligation until March 3rd. The tariffs will be negotiated behind closed doors from February 5th. According to the information, the aim is to reach a collective agreement by the beginning of March. It was already known on Saturday morning that both sides were in talks again.
With the agreement now reached, there is hope for an early solution to the hardened conflict for the first time in weeks. Collective bargaining between DB and GDL began at the beginning of November. After the first round, GDL boss Weselsky called for a warning strike, after the second round he declared the talks had failed and initiated a strike vote. Since then, the signs have been pointing to escalation rather than negotiation.
You can read more information about the warning strikes on the next pages.