SECURITY workers at three major German airports have waged the first of yet another round of strikes called by the country’s ver.di trade union, leading to the cancellation of nearly 700 departing flights.
An estimated 100,000 people were affected by the protest action over low pay waged by aviation security workers on Thursday 20th and Friday 21st April at three major airports – in Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Cologne Bonn, according to the airport association ADV. Around 700 flights were cancelled.
The sectors impacted by the strike include the aviation security area, passenger control, personnel and goods control and service areas.
A Hamburg airport spokesman stated: ‘The situation in the terminals today is the same as previous ver.di strikes this year: departure terminals are empty, the situation is calm.’
Longer waiting times, delays and cancellations are expected. Hamburg Airport has announced that no regular departures will be possible from Wednesday 10 pm to Friday 11 pm, while further cancellations and delays are anticipated for arriving flights.
Airports, bus and train stations have come to halt across Germany.
Germany is faced with transport disruptions resulting from a cost-of-living mega strike.
The strikes come amid stalled wage negotiations with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS).
For years, the unions have been calling for an increase in the supplements paid for night work, and work on weekends and public holidays.
They are also demanding a better collective bargaining agreement for overtime pay for security and service staff at commercial airports.
These supplement payments have not been improved since 2006, with negotiations for an increase starting in 2013. It was agreed in early 2019 to continue negotiations, but in 2020, the pandemic halted progress. Negotiations resumed in 2022 but six rounds of meetings throughout the year proved inconclusive.
The strike is set to widen as ver.di has called on security staff at Stuttgart airport to join the walkouts, prompting the airport to cancel all departures.
In addition to the airport strikes, German railway and transport union EVG called for a nationwide transport strike on Friday, impacting around 50 companies, including national rail operator Deutsche Bahn.
Germany faces major transport disruption as workers at airports, ports, railways, buses and metro lines started a nationwide strike on Monday, demanding pay hikes amid soaring inflation.
In recent months, Germany has been hit by strikes in several sectors, including the postal service, airports and local transport. Workers demand higher pay to cope with soaring inflation and the rapidly aggravating cost-of-living crisis.
In the first three and a half months of 2023, over 900,000 passengers have been forced to reschedule or even cancel their flights due to ver.di strikes.
While the strikes are causing disruption to travellers, workers hope that they will ultimately result in better working conditions and pay.
Protesters have turned out in major cities across Europe to voice their anger at the rising cost of living across the continent, exacerbated by the needless assignment of funds to the war in Ukraine.
Germany is not the only country to affected by massive strikes. The strikes in Germany are part of major industrial actions that have hit major European economies as higher food and energy prices have dented living standards.
In the UK, the government is engaged in pay disputes across several sectors as workers demand higher wages to keep pace with surging inflation, with strikes at schools, railways, and, hospitals, taking place on a regular basis.
France has witnessed days of strikes and protests over the government’s controversial pension reforms. People are angry at the overhaul, which includes increasing the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Security guards at London’s Heathrow airport have announced plans to wage an eight-day strike in May, expected to cause major delays for travellers attending King Charles III’s upcoming coronation.
Announcing the strike action, the Unite union said some 1,400 security officers will stage a new work stoppage at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 on May 4-6, 9-10 and 25-27, warning of ‘inevitable disruption and delays,’ as the initial strike will coincide with travellers intending to take part in the British king’s coronation festivities on May 6.
‘Our members have been crystal clear they are seeking a substantial permanent increase in pay,’ Unite regional officer Wayne King said of his members’ dispute with Heathrow.
‘A small one-off lump sum payment will not alleviate the financial pressures our members are facing on a daily basis,’ King said, adding that the airport has shown a ‘stubborn refusal’ to make an offer that meets the union members’ expectations.
The airport’s management insists they have been engaged in talks with Unite for months and had improved a 10 percent pay offer with a further £1,150 lump sum this year, but claims that the union has failed to put this revised offer to their members.
‘Each day that Unite refuses to allow members to vote on the 10% pay increase and a £1,150 lump sum payment is a day that costs colleagues money they deserve now,’ the airport’s spokesman said.
The union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said; ‘We have a chief executive who thinks it is acceptable to boost his earnings while he denies his own workers a decent pay rise.
‘This dispute is bound to escalate with more workers being balloted and disruption set to continue throughout the summer.’
Security guards at Heathrow also took part in a 10-day walkout over Easter which involved officers at Terminal 5 – which is used exclusively by British Airways – and campus security guards who are responsible for checking all cargo that enters the airport.
A Heathrow spokesperson said that they ‘will not disrupt the flow of visitors to the UK during King Charles’ coronation which is an important period for the country.
‘We kept Heathrow running smoothly during the first 10 days of Unite’s failed industrial action, and passengers can have confidence that we will do so again this time.’
In other developments, Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members in all passport offices across the UK will walk out from 2 to 6 May in a row over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and jobs.
Nearly 2,000 passport examiners are already taking part in a rolling strike, but the new announcement means a further 1,000 staff, including interview officers and those in administrative and anti-fraud roles, will also take part.
Passport Office workers in the UK have launched a five-week strike in the long-running dispute with the government over pay and conditions.
The announcement comes on the same day the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed UK inflation remained stubbornly above 10 per cent last month, further fuelling the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
The UK economy has been grappling with record-high inflation during recent months, which has prompted strike action by various public and private sector workers, from nurses to port workers, as the double digit inflation rates of the past year spark demands for increased wages.
Adding to the current pressure on people, the government has announced its new plan to end the Energy Price Guarantee scheme, which will withdraw the government’s financial support for energy bills.
The economic and political crisis that is erupting and raging throughout Europe has the most direct revolutionary implications.
One of these is that the Greek, French, German and UK workers are in fact leading the struggle for a Socialist United States of Europe.
This will see the European capitalist order destroyed and lay the basis for a Worldwide Socialist Republic.
This will move humanity forward to a Communist future, whose motto will be Marx’s, ‘From each according to their ability to each according to their need.’
