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Ground staff at the airport in Friedrichshafen (symbolic picture): According to Verdi, 6,000 employees should receive more wages
Photo: Felix Kästle/ dpa
Ground staff at several airports will soon be paid more: the Verdi services union has agreed on "very good" collective bargaining agreements with handling companies.
Verdi announced that the more than 6,000 employees would receive up to 26 percent more wages.
Verdi has now announced that wage increases, for example for the employees of the passenger handling company Aviation Handling Services, have been agreed without any strikes in the past few weeks.
The company works at the airports in Düsseldorf, Hanover and Cologne/Bonn.
According to Verdi, employees will receive between 17 and 26 percent more wages within the next six months.
At the ground handling service provider Aviapartner in Düsseldorf and Hanover, salaries will be increased by 300 euros from Monday.
At the largest German airport in Frankfurt am Main, Fraground employees will receive up to 14 percent more retrospectively from July 1st as well as financial recognition of 700 euros for the current burden in air traffic.
Verdi recently achieved wage increases of up to 18 percent for the staff of Stuttgart Ground Services and the Düsseldorf-based handling company Acciona.
Hourly wages at service providers higher than at Lufthansa
»Due to the lack of staff and the high workloads, many employers are more willing to significantly increase their income.
That's very gratifying," says Verdi negotiator Marvin Reschinsky, according to a statement.
“It is all the more astonishing when a company like Lufthansa rejects significant increases, disappoints the employees and expects its passengers to go on strikes during the holidays.” According to Reschinsky, the future hourly wages are above the current level at Lufthansa as a result of the most recent agreements.
The union is negotiating with Lufthansa in the third round starting Wednesday about more money for the around 20,000 ground workers.
Verdi had put pressure on last week with a 26-hour strike by ground staff at Lufthansa.
The airline had to cancel more than a thousand flights, affecting more than 130,000 passengers.
For the approximately 20,000 Lufthansa employees on the ground, Verdi is demanding 9.5 percent more wages for a period of twelve months.
A strike could also be imminent for Lufthansa pilots: in a vote, a large majority of those entitled to vote were in favour.
Read more about this here.
ani/AFP