BERLIN – Staff at Germany’s BER airport in capital Berlin went on strike to press their pay demands on Wednesday and the airport operator said all regular passenger flights were canceled because of this.
Around 300 take-offs and landings with slightly below 35,000 passengers were originally planned for Wednesday.
The Ver.di union called on airport staff in ground services, aviation security and on the airport company to strike within the wage dispute. It called the one-day work stoppage over what it said was insufficient progress in wage talks.
“We hope that the pressure is enough,” said union representative Enrico Ruemker, adding that the goal was movement on 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 one other 2% on May 1 next 12 months.
“While you see how high the inflation rate is and consider that the colleagues from this area haven’t had a salary increase for a lot of, a few years, this offer is in fact a slap within the face for the colleagues,” Ruemker said.
The German government was set on Wednesday to release its annual economic report. A source told Reuters that a draft of this report forecast 6% inflation this 12 months and a pair of.8% for 2024.