Major German airport strikes bring air travel to virtual halt

Bangkok Post Group

More than half a million people are facing travel disruption at German airports on Monday where a 24-hour strike has led to thousands of flight cancellations in a dispute about workers' pay. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00Thousands of flights cancelled and over half a million people hit on Monday, as German

00:07airport workers staged a major 24-hour strike in a dispute about pay.

00:14The operator of Frankfurt Airport, Germany's busiest, said no passenger flights would depart

00:19from there on Monday, and some delays and cancellations could roll over into Tuesday.

00:24Heinrich Nertfler was a stranded passenger.

00:27We had to leave Switzerland a day early and then spend the night here in Frankfurt.

00:33And now we're waiting to check in at another airport.

00:36And I think it's a shame that a strike is called at such short notice.

00:41The strike, called by the Verdi Union on Friday, impacts 13 airports across the country, including

00:47Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf.

00:50The union escalated action after staging several walkouts last month.

00:55Matthias Vernehmer is the Verdi Union spokesperson.

00:59The airports are part of the public sector and we have the collective bargaining round

01:03for the public sector with over two and a half million employees.

01:06The colleagues simply want to see an offer for the third round of negotiations in order

01:10to strive for better working conditions and higher wages.

01:15Verdi is demanding an 8% wage increase, or at least an increase of $380 more per month.

01:22That's as well as higher bonuses and additional time off.

01:25Employers have rejected the demands as unaffordable.

01:29Negotiations are due to continue later this month.

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