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Suitcase chaos at Hamburg Airport: there is no improvement in sight
Photo: Jonas Walzberg / dpa
It's chaotic at German airports, in Hamburg there are now more problems for travelers: for Friday, the Ver.di union called on employees of a technology company to go on warning strike.
Real Estate Maintenance (RMH) is responsible for maintaining the technology in baggage handling, the runways and all other technical infrastructure.
The strike is to begin with the early shift and last 24 hours for the time being.
The timing is extremely unfavorable for many travellers: In Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Friday is the last day of school before the summer holidays.
The school holidays in Hamburg begin on July 7th.
Passengers are already having to wait hours at the airport, and on Monday dozens of pieces of luggage were piled up at the baggage carousel – mostly bags and suitcases that were not being transported with their owners.
As at other German airports, Hamburg is overwhelmed - during the pandemic, jobs in airport operations were massively cut.
According to the airport association ADV, around 20 percent fewer staff work at German airports than before the pandemic.
The Frankfurt airport operator Fraport alone cut 4,000 jobs.
In order to combat the shortage of personnel, the federal government is planning to facilitate the use of foreign workers, for example from Turkey.
Airlines cancel flights
In order to eliminate the chaos, numerous airlines have already canceled thousands of flights.
Lufthansa alone is taking around 3,000 connections from the flight schedule for the summer.
How big the participation in the strike on Friday will be and how big the impact is so far unclear.
With the warning strike, the union wants to increase the pressure on employers in the current wage negotiations.
For a period of twelve months, she calls for an 8.5 percent increase in wages for employees as well as advantages for union members.
Employers, on the other hand, have only had four percent per year for a period of two years and other benefits that are not included in the table.
jlk/dpa