BERLIN (AP) – The cancellation of the flight at Hamburg Airport was a day of wider protests planned in Germany amid new contract negotiations after a surprise strike by more than 40,000 passengers on Sunday.
The airport said only 10 of the more than 280 scheduled flights were scheduled. Many service desks are empty as possible passengers line up to find information about cancellations. The overhead of a large electronic departure board is “cancel” in the red next to the list of all flights.
The surprise strike was reportedly only about half an hour ahead of a series of broader prophetic strikes organized by VER.DI UNION on Monday.
Members of the union work in areas including passenger services, cargo and merchandise screening, and he called on safety control personnel to strike Sunday to put pressure on company representatives in collective bargaining sessions.
Airport spokeswoman Katja Bromm said in a statement: “The actions of the union ver.di are not dispersible: the strike attacked Hamburg Airport without notice.
Brom said Sunday’s strike “over and unfair to thousands of travelers who have no dispute.”
For months, Ver.DI has been negotiating a new agreement that aims to improve occupational health and safety, provides more holidays, increases annual bonuses to 50%, and freely choose doctors for employees’ routine, mandatory medical examinations, and more.
“The strike must cause economic losses,” said union official Lars Stubbe.
“We know it’s a huge burden for passengers. Our colleagues know that, too. But they say we have to continue the strike. It has to be effective so that we have reasonable proposals to negotiate,” he said.
Some possible passengers did not hide their frustration.
“I also want to know why this is happening, because tomorrow (Monday) should be a general strike – why is today?” said Alva Wetzel, who hopes to travel. “It’s just stupid.”
