AFP
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NOS News•today, 13:01•Amended today, 13:15
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Lufthansa ground staff will lay down their work at Frankfurt and Munich airports in the coming days. Verdi union says the strike will start next night and last a few days. More than a thousand flights are canceled, affecting 134,000 travelers.
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With the strike, Verdi wants to put pressure on the Lufthansa management. The union and the airline are discussing better working conditions for the 20,000 employees on the ground.
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Lufthansa director Niggemann reacts furiously to the strike. “There were constructive talks. The early escalation after just two days of negotiations is causing enormous damage, especially for our customers at this peak season.” Lufthansa offers its staff a salary increase of 250 euros per month and a profit-related bonus, but the union thinks that is too little to compensate for inflation.
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Consequences for the whole of Germany
Frankfurt and Munich are important transfer airports. The strike at those two airports also affects travelers at the airports of Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hanover, Stuttgart and Cologne.
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Travelers who have a ticket from Lufthansa are urged not to come to the Frankfurt and Munich airports for the next few days, because there will be no employees behind the counter to help them.
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Just like at Schiphol, the German airports are also extremely busy, while there is also a staff shortage. This leads to chaos, now that many people want to go on holiday abroad again. According to the Verdi union, mismanagement is the cause of the chaos at German airports.
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