Hundreds of flights cancelled in Germany after airport staff strike
March 27--BERLIN -- Half-day strikes Tuesday by airport staff in Germany seeking pay rises disrupted traffic and inconvenienced travellers, with flag carrier Lufthansa cancelling 450 flights around the country.
Frankfurt airport alone said 450 of its 1,300 scheduled takeoffs and landings by all airlines had been cancelled. At Europe's third-biggest airport, baggage handling staff walked off the job early Tuesday and were not expected back until the afternoon. Arriving passengers were unable to retrieve their luggage all morning.
The strikes also affected the airports in Munich, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart, Bremen and Hanover, as well as many municipal bus services.
While Germany's airports remained open, with non-union staff and other employees still working, they were too few to fill the gaps.
The workers' trade union Verdi, the country's second largest, is seeking a 6.5-per-cent pay increase for 2 million public sector workers. It targeted air travel with the half-day stoppage to step up pressure before the next round of negotiations.
The government and other public enterprise employers have offered a rise of 3.3 per cent, which Verdi has rejected.
"The fact that the airports are idled today is a clear signal that this could escalate," Verdi leader Frank Bsirske told a rally in Frankfurt.
Copyright 2012 - dpa, Berlin
