Numerous flights were canceled at Frankfurt Airport due to
the strike organized by trade union ver.di, German news agency dpa reported.
Starting at 2 a.m., employees of the cargo and passenger controls at Germany’s
largest airport stopped working, a ver.di spokesperson said in the morning.
Only passengers with layovers were able to go through security checks in
Frankfurt. Airport operator Fraport had called on all travelers hoping to board
in Frankfurt not to travel to the airport.
According to Fraport, 130 of 818 flights planned for Tuesday
were canceled. Originally, about 71,000 passengers had been expected at the
airport that day.
Employees at Hamburg, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden
airports also walked out of their jobs. In Munich, Germany’s second-largest
airport, a walkout has been underway since Monday afternoon. Other airports
including Berlin, Duesseldorf and Hannover canceled dozens of flights on Monday
due to one-day strikes there.
The walkouts are part of a wage dispute between ver.di and
the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies. The union is
negotiating with the employers’ association for a new agreement for about
25,000 security staff nationwide. Ver.di is demanding an increase in hourly
wages of at least one euro, among other things.
Three rounds of negotiations have so far failed to produce a
result. The sides plan to meet in Berlin later this week for further
negotiations. -AP