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Passengers obtain information at a counter in Cologne/Bonn Airport.
© Thomas Banneyer/dpa
Work stoppages at airports have the effect the union hoped for: many flights are canceled and travelers have to reschedule.
In the collective bargaining dispute, employers must give in, demands Verdi.
Cologne/Düsseldorf - A warning strike by security staff largely paralyzed flight operations at the two largest airports in North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday.
Of the 113 flight movements originally planned, 92 were canceled or diverted in Cologne/Bonn, said an airport spokeswoman.
She was referring to the period from Wednesday 9 p.m. to Thursday 12 midnight - the Verdi union had called on inspectors in Cologne/Bonn to stop work for these 27 hours.
An estimated 13,000 passengers were affected by the cancellations.
In Düsseldorf, where, unlike Cologne/Bonn, there is a ban on night flights and the strike only started at midnight, things looked better.
The airport stated the proportion of cancellations was around a third: instead of a total of around 290 take-offs and landings, only 189 were supposed to take place.
Some planes were diverted to Münster/Osnabrück.
According to the airport, the waiting times for the clearance of flights remained within limits, contrary to the forecast from the previous day.
According to company information, a single machine took off in Cologne/Bonn during the warning strike - shortly after the work stoppage began.
The passengers had come through the security gates when there was no work stoppage there.
Three other flights were pushed back from Thursday evening to early Friday morning to allow passengers to get through security gates after the warning strike ended.
Verdi considered the warning strike a success.
The participation was extremely high, said the responsible union secretary Özay Tarim.
This is a strong signal to employers.
They would finally have to move in the collective bargaining dispute.
The collective bargaining parties want to meet for the next round of negotiations on February 6th and 7th.
“We will wait and see what the negotiations bring,” said Tarim.
After that there could be warning strikes again.
“If nothing happens, we will discuss when we will resume industrial action.”
There will be no short-term extension of the Thursday aviation security strike in North Rhine-Westphalia, said Tarim.
On the night from Thursday to Friday this will initially be over at midnight.
A spokeswoman for Cologne/Bonn Airport said that normal flight operations were expected for Friday.
The airport at the gates of the cathedral city is not only important for passengers, but also a large hub for cargo airlines.
This area was also hit by the work stoppages - there was a long traffic jam of trucks that wanted to deliver freight during the night.
According to trade unionist Tarim, the fact that Düsseldorf was hit significantly less by the warning strikes than Cologne/Bonn was due to the fact that there are significantly more security guards there on temporary contracts.
Therefore, the employees are afraid to stop work, even though this is their right.
Tarim also found it provocative that a security company operating in Düsseldorf offered its employees an extra payment of 200 euros gross.
Such a one-off payment hardly brings anything to people; instead, they need permanent wage increases in times of high inflation.
In the collective bargaining dispute, Verdi is demanding 2.80 euros more wages per hour, higher functional bonuses and overtime bonuses from the first hour of overtime.
The new collective agreement should have a term of 12 months.
The demands go too far for employers.
dpa