While passengers wait in a long line at the security checkpoint, airport security staff are on strike in the background.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin, Frankfort In the collective bargaining dispute in the airport security industry, the Verdi union is calling for an almost nationwide warning strike. On Tuesday, the inspectors at the airports in Frankfurt, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Hanover, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn are to stop working all day, as the union in Berlin announced.
At Frankfurt Airport, passengers will again not be able to board, as the operating company Fraport announced. Only transit travelers would be processed.
In the past week, the collective bargaining talks, which were also accompanied by warning strikes, remained without result. “The employers have failed to finally submit a negotiable offer that takes up the price development and ensures that the work for qualified specialists in the aviation security sector remains attractive,” explained Verdi negotiator Wolfgang Pieper. A new hearing has been agreed for Thursday.
Verdi is demanding a collective agreement for twelve months and an hourly wage increased by at least one euro. The salaries of baggage and staff inspectors should reach the level of employees in passenger control. In addition, employees in aircraft security and boarding pass control are to be paid uniformly nationwide.
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In the background, however, there has been a dispute with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) about the basic payment of security personnel for years. Verdi had already drawn the ire of the industry at the beginning of 2019 because air traffic was severely hampered with all-day warning strikes. At that time it was about aligning the wages of the inspectors in East and West and achieving a nationwide collective agreement.
Finally, both sides agreed on a new collective agreement for the approximately 25,000 employees, which provided for annual increases of 3.5 to 9.77 percent for the next three years. Now the old conflict has broken out again. Because there are still regional differences in payment.
The pressure to come to a solution is enormous. The pandemic and now the war in Ukraine are hampering the recovery of air traffic in Germany. Nevertheless, airlines and airports hope that people will fly more on vacation again at Easter and in summer. The latent danger of strikes could cause the strong booking figures of the past few weeks to collapse again. Because without the security checks, no passenger can board the plane.
Difficult personnel search
Even without labor disputes, the situation when it comes to handling passengers at Easter and in the summer is likely to become difficult. Because after two years of the pandemic with only severely restricted air traffic, many employees of the so-called ground services have turned away from the industry and found work elsewhere.
Finding new staff at short notice is difficult. Because in the security area, a sovereign task of the state, employees have to be trained longer.
More: Verdi warning strike largely paralyzes Frankfurt Airport