German airport staff to strike again over pay

Verdi, the German union, has announced another strike by airport employees of Lufthansa due to wage disputes, set to begin on Thursday at 4:00 AM and end Saturday at 7:10 AM. This follows two previous strikes that disrupted German passenger traffic for about a day, affecting around 25,000 airport employees. Marvin Reschinsky, Verdi’s chief negotiator, finds it regrettable that travelers’ plans will be impacted again. Verdi demands a 12.5 percent pay increase and a one-year inflation bonus. Lufthansa’s current offer is a 10 percent raise over 28 months. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for March 13 and 14. A recent strike at Lufthansa Cargo affected cargo but not passengers, while a one-day strike last month impacted around 100,000 travelers. The larger issue in Germany is inflation, which has led to higher wage demands across various sectors, including a six-day strike by locomotive drivers in January over pay disputes with Deutsche Bahn.