Flights cancelled over strike

2008-03-05 14:18

Berlin - Scores of flights were cancelled on Wednesday after thousands of airport workers walked off their jobs at several German airports, part of a wider labour action to win higher pay for public service workers.

At Frankfurt International Airport - Germany's largest and the third busiest in Europe - hundreds of ver.di union ground crew workers walked off the job early in the morning.

More than 2 000 baggage handlers, check-in counter workers, airport firefighters and others took part in the warning strike in Frankfurt, said union representative Frank Bsirske.

"Either the public employers make an offer with clear salary increases and without increased work hours, or we will show them our strength," Bsirske said at a rally at the airport.

Ver.di has called for an eight percent raise for Germany's 1.3 million public service workers, backdated to January 1.

The government has countered with a five percent increase over two years, accompanied by a longer working week, but ver.di has rejected it. A new round of talks with employers is scheduled for Thursday.

'We can hold out'

The employers signalled a willingness to negotiate on Wednesday, saying the five percent increase was not "the last offer".

"We seek a compromise," said Thomas Boehle, president of the employers' organisation.

But, he said, employers were waiting on the union to lower its demand of raises between eight percent and 15.5% "by a reasonable amount" and also to talk about other compromises.

In Berlin, ver.di is seeking pay increases of up to 12% for employees of the capital's transport system. Subway, tram and bus workers launched a 10-day strike there on Wednesday morning.

"We can hold out for a very, very long time," Berlin ver.di representative Frank Baesler warned on RBB radio.

But as soon as employers make a "reasonable offer" the strikes will be called off and the union will start talking again, he said.

The pay disputes come amid concern in Germany over perceptions that wealth from the country's recent economic upswing is being distributed unfairly.

Flights cancelled

While employers point to the need to remain competitive in an increasingly globalised economy, unions argue that workers deserve their share of Germany's economic improvement after years of wage restraint.

At Germany's second biggest airport, in Munich, 100 of 462 planned flights for Wednesday morning were cancelled, spokesperson Peter Pruemm said. Another 69 flights were cancelled at the northern city of Hamburg's airport, affecting about 6 000 passengers.

In all, Lufthansa said it had called off 142 flights countrywide because of the strikes, which also affected airports in Duesseldorf, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Saarbruecken, Cologne-Bonn, Dortmund and Muenster-Osnabrueck.

The public service strikes started on Tuesday, hitting most of Germany's 16 states, but focusing on northern and eastern cities.

- AP