By Mohamed Attia
All flights were cancelled atBerlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) in the capital Berlin on Wednesday, the operator said, as staff went on strike for the day to press pay demands.
About 300 take-offs and landings with nearly 35,000 passengers were originally planned for Wednesday. The strike began at around 3:30 am (0230 GMT).
The VereinteDienstleistungsgewerkschaft (Ver.di) union called on airport staff in ground services, aviation security and at the airport company to strike in the wage dispute. It called the one-day work stoppage over what it said was insufficient progress in the three parallel wage talks.
“We hope that the pressure is enough,” said union representative Enrico Ruemker, adding that the goal was movement at the negotiations.
He said the airport company had made a collective bargaining offer for a 24-month term under which salaries would increase by 3% on June 1 and by another 2% on May 1 next year.
“When you see how high the inflation rate is and consider that the colleagues from this area have not had a salary increase for many, many years, this offer is of course a slap in the face for the colleagues,” Ruemker said.
Ver.di demanded a 500-euro ($543) salary increase for ground staff over a 12-month period, as well as higher bonuses for air security personnel, who work on weekends and public holidays.
The BER offered a salary increase of 3% in June, in addition to an increase of 2% to be applied in May 2024.
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