No passenger flights will take off from Berlin airport on Monday due to a warning strike. Some of the plane arrivals are also affected and are cancelled. The Verdi trade union has invited employees in the aviation security, passenger control and personnel and cargo control areas not to work from 3.30 to midnight.
Almost all of the approximately 240 originally scheduled departures were already canceled on the airport’s website on Sunday. Some of the estimated 240 or so plane arrivals, such as Ryanair, KLM and Air France, were reportedly “cancelled” as well. According to the airport, the respective airline decides whether the planes will arrive. Passengers should inquire there. The airport assumes that some of the landings will be canceled because the planes can no longer take off with new passengers and continue flying after their arrival.
The warning strike at the capital’s airport adds to a long list of work stoppages, especially in traffic, in recent weeks. Only on Thursday and Friday there were warning strikes at the airports of Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn and Hamburg, and on Friday also at the airports of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden. The warning strikes have led to numerous flight cancellations, affecting tens of thousands of people. There was another strike at Baden airport on Saturday.
An agreement in the next round of negotiations is considered unlikely
Rail traffic was also halted for hours on Friday morning as collective bargaining between the EVG railway and transport union and 50 railway companies stalled. The union had called for an eight-hour strike to increase pressure on employers before the next negotiations. The next talks between EVG and Deutsche Bahn are scheduled for Tuesday, but a solution to the wage conflict is considered highly unlikely. The EVG has already threatened that there may be further warning strikes.
The reason for the airport warning strikes on Thursday, Friday and Monday are the negotiations on surcharges for night, Saturday, Sunday and public holiday work and the rules on overtime pay for security and service personnel. Talks between Verdi and the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (Bdls) have been underway for some time.
“We once again urge the BDL to present a negotiable offer on April 27 and 28 and not to delay, otherwise there is a risk of further strikes in air traffic in May and at Pentecost,” said Wolfgang Pieper of the Verdi union. on Saturday with the airport association ADV appealed to the parties to collective bargaining to seek an agreement at the negotiating table.
