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Employees on warning strike at Frankfurt Airport (on Friday)
Photo: Peter Henrich / HEN-FOTO / IMAGO
The warning strikes in the public sector paralyzed large parts of German air traffic on Friday.
According to estimates by the airport association ADV, almost 300,000 passengers are affected by a good 2,340 flight cancellations.
In Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony, employees in local public transport, in daycare centers, city administrations or energy suppliers also stopped working.
Ver.di boss Frank Werneke warns that the collective bargaining conflict could soon become even more severe.
"The next strikes will have a different dimension," said the union chairman of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper."
The willingness of the members to take action is great.
"If it becomes necessary, the strike is planned," said Werneke.
If the employers present a really good offer in the next round of negotiations in the coming week, an agreement can be reached quickly.
Otherwise, the current warning strikes are only a foretaste, according to Werneke: "Then there are also, for example, garbage disposal or the hospitals." Locks on the waterways may not be operated either.
"And maybe there won't be any tickets if the clerks of the public order offices go on strike."
Regarding the Ver.di demands, Werneke said that the increase in wages and salaries by a fixed amount of 500 euros, from which lower income groups in particular benefit, is more important than a percentage increase for all salary groups.
The latter is primarily the wish of employers, who fear that the public service will be less attractive for lawyers, engineers or personnel managers.
Ver.di and the civil servants' association DBB are demanding 10.5 percent more income, but at least 500 euros more per month for the approximately 2.5 million federal and local employees.
The term should be twelve months.
On Friday, the warning strikes almost completely brought operations at the seven airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Hanover, Stuttgart, Bremen, Hamburg and Dortmund to a standstill.
Even at airports that are not under strike, such as Berlin, there are some restrictions as a result of the warning strikes.
In Hesse, Frankfurt and the surrounding area was the focus of the warning strikes.
Apart from the airport, local public transport was particularly affected.
According to Ver.di, there were also walkouts in the city administrations, at the energy supplier Mainova, the city cleaning department, in daycare centers, old people's homes and a hospital.
In the Rhineland-Palatinate cities of Mainz and Neuwied, the warning strikes began in the middle of the street carnival.
Among other things, garbage disposal and street cleaning were called on Friday and Saturday to stop working.
In Leipzig, too, employees followed the union's call.
According to Ver.di, a number of daycare centers and after-school care centers in the city were affected by the walkout, as were the transport companies, city cleaning and other public service institutions.
fdi/dpa
