BALTIMORE, Maryland March 27, 2014 - The men and women who walked off their jobs today at airports across Germany are calling it a one-day strike. But if anyone thinks that is all it is, they have another thing coming. And soon.
According to the AP, seven German Airports are affected and most of the nearly 1,000 flights cancelled so far originate and end within Europe. Lufthansa alone has cancelled about 600 flights. The seven airports where striking workers did not come to work include those at Frankfurt, Munich, Duesseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart and Hannover.
Higher pay is, not unexpectedly, the primary demand of the strikers. These warning strikes are a common union tactic in Germany. Talks for new contracts are expected to start next week for some 2.1 million federal and municipal employees. If you are saying to yourself, airport workers are not federal and municipal employees, you are correct. They just happen to be in the same union as the workers whose contracts will be negotiated by the Ver.di Union. This has provoked almost extreme anger amongst airline management. A Lufthansa spokesperson told the AP that the union is exploiting "non-involved" parties and costing them millions of euros. "We particularly regret the fact that our customers will suffer," the spokesman said.
The increase that the union is seeking amounts to approximately 6.73%, although the method of calculating it is somewhat circuitous. Ver.di wants a base increase of 100 euros per month plus a 3.5% raise for all workers.
No comments:
Post a Comment