Germany: Hundreds of flights canceled in as airports hit by public sector strikes

Berlin, April 10: Thousands of passengers at four German airports, including the biggest hub Frankfurt, were stranded today as ground staff and other public sector workers staged walkouts across the country to increase the pressure in a pay dispute.

Lufthansa said on Monday it was canceling more than 800 of its planned 1,600 flights on Tuesday and Frankfurt airport operator Fraport has warned of disruption.

As well as Frankfurt, airports in Munich, Cologne, and Bremen were hit. The industrial action also affected nurseries, rubbish collection services and swimming pools in several German states.

“We want to send a clear signal to employers with these massive strikes,” Frank Bsirske, head of Verdi, Germany’s biggest labor union for service sector employees, said. “We expect an offer to be made for the third round of talks that is worthy of discussion so we can reach a good solution.”

He said the union would escalate the dispute if employers did not present an offer next week. The third round of talks starts on April 15.

Verdi has called for a 6 percent pay rise for its 2.3 million public sector employees at the federal and local level. Germany’s federal government and municipalities have rejected that, saying such an increase would force them to outsource jobs.