Munich Airport: Strike out of the blue leads to flight cancellations

Created: 03/15/2022, 07:18

By: Dirk Walter

Workers from the Verdi union staged a strike at Munich airport.

© Christophe Gateau/dpa

At the airport there are faint hopes of an upswing after the Corona lull.

By Easter at the latest, business should be booming again.

A strike hits the airport out of the blue.

Munich – The union was combative.

"Takeoff 22", Verdi titled a warning strike yesterday, which should still have some effects on flight operations in Munich and other German airports today.

In Munich, the 750 employees of FM Sicherheit, a 100 percent subsidiary of Flughafen München GmbH, were called on to go on strike.

The appeal was also directed at a service provider: the Nuremberg security and locking company provides staff on call when FM Security is short on personnel.

Munich: Strike out of the blue at the airport – flight cancellations as a result

Both companies checked staff and freight, they made sure that only employees with an airport ID card entered the security area – pilots, flight attendants, handlers as well as craftsmen.

Every construction site vehicle, every food supplier has to be checked in front of the airport gates – otherwise they won't be able to get in.

In addition, the call for a strike went out to the employees of ICTS Germany, to which aircraft security has been delegated.

Unlike in Frankfurt, for example, the security personnel who checked the passengers did not go on strike in Munich.

In Munich, this task has been assigned to SGM, whose employees have other collective agreements.

The strike is having serious consequences in Frankfurt - numerous domestic and international flights have been canceled on Tuesday.

The airport called on passengers not to come to the airport at all.

Around 700 flights could be affected.

In Munich, when the strike began yesterday at 2 p.m., the effects were initially limited.

Since Verdi had already called on the security staff at other German airports to go on strike in the morning, only a number of domestic German flights to and from Düsseldorf, Berlin or Bremen had to be cancelled.

Around 40 flights were therefore canceled according to the airport.

Even today, Tuesday, only domestic German flights are canceled, for example to Hamburg or Stuttgart.

Munich: 75 percent strike participation at the airport - main gate closed

Yesterday afternoon, Verdi spoke of 75 percent participation in the strike at Munich Airport.

"The main gate on Nordallee is closed, there is an emergency staff at other gates, sometimes only three people work instead of eight," said a works council member in our newspaper.

The airport only has a limited ability to take countermeasures here.

According to Verdi information, aircraft crews can be guided to gates that are still occupied so that they can get to the airport site after the security check.

As is often the case with strikes, it is ultimately about money.

Verdi is fighting with the industry association BDL for a wage increase.

BDL has offered 38 cents more per hour, Verdi wants one euro.

In addition, every employee should already receive their full salary during the probationary period – without any deductions.

The special feature: It was a "stay-at-home" strike - "Stay@home" writes the union cleverly.

This means: The employees do not even appear at the airport, but stay at home from the start.

"Many employees have already agreed to work the evening shift," reported the works council, who preferred to remain anonymous.