After rail customers, airline passengers now have to expect strike-related cancellations. A nationwide warning strike by aviation security forces could bring air traffic to a standstill in large parts of Germany this Thursday (February 1st). The Verdi union has called on the employees of private security companies at eleven airports to go on an all-day warning strike. The Hessischer Rundfunk reported first.
There is a strike at the airports of Hamburg, Bremen, Hanover, Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt, Frankfurt/Main and Stuttgart. Exceptions are said to be Munich Airport and some smaller airports.
The approximately 25,000 employees of private security services work at the checks for passengers, baggage and personnel, mostly on behalf of the federal police. Without them, access and therefore no operation of the security areas at the airports is possible. Air traffic is therefore likely to be paralyzed in large parts of Germany. The extent of the flight cancellations was not yet known. Negotiations on emergency service agreements were still ongoing today.
No passenger flights will take off in Hamburg and Berlin on Thursday. The airport companies in the two cities announced this today. This means that 170 take-offs will be canceled at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), and 126 departures will be canceled in Hamburg.
“Warning strike by aviation security forces inappropriate”
The aviation industry association BDL has long been complaining about the high costs in Germany as an aviation location. The association sharply criticized the union’s actions: “The paralysis of air traffic in Germany through a warning strike by the aviation security forces is inappropriate. Instead, everything should be done to find a solution at the negotiating table or through arbitration,” explained general manager Matthias von Randow .
The last time there were warning strikes in aviation security was in March last year. At that time it was about the working conditions of the employees, who had achieved significant wage increases in recent years. In the meantime, the collective collective agreement has been signed. Now it’s about compensation.
What the union demands
In the collective bargaining dispute, Verdi is demanding a flat-rate increase in hourly wages of 2.80 euros and faster surcharges over a period of twelve months. Aviation security assistants in the lowest salary group currently earn 20.60 euros an hour, which adds up to a gross salary of almost 3,300 euros for 160 monthly working hours. There are also surcharges for night work, Sundays and public holidays and overtime. Verdi explained that the demand takes into account the loss of purchasing power due to inflation and includes an increase in wages.
It is also about the future recruitment of skilled workers, warned Verdi negotiator Wolfgang Pieper. “There is already a shortage of qualified workers who are willing to work extremely flexibly at airports around the clock, on weekends and on public holidays – security in air traffic does not come for free.”
Further negotiations in February
The employers from the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) say they have offered 4 percent more money for this year and 3 percent more money for the coming year. In addition, overtime bonuses should be paid at an earlier point in time than before. Verdi’s demands add up to 250 million euros in additional costs in the current year alone, said a BDLS spokeswoman. Unlike the Verdi union, not every wage increase can be refinanced through aviation security fees.
Two further rounds of negotiations have already been scheduled for the 6th/7th. and 21/22. Agreed in February.
An increase in the maximum fee rate from 10 to 15 euros per passenger, originally planned by the federal government for this February, recently got stuck in the Federal Council. The state chamber pointed out the high cost burden of air transport in Germany and wants to postpone the increase until 2025.
