By Oyintari Ben
On Thursday, the first day of another wave of strikes planned by Germany’s Verdi trade union over the crisis in the cost of living, left the airports in Dusseldorf, Hamburg, and Cologne-Bonn almost empty.
According to the airport organisation ADV, the strikes by aviation security personnel at the three airports on Thursday and Friday will have an impact on up to 100,000 people and result in the cancellation of almost 700 departing flights.
“The situation in the terminals today is the same as previous Verdi strikes this year: departure terminals are empty, and the situation is calm,” a spokesperson for Hamburg airport said in a statement.
The union claimed no progress in its talks with the BDLS aviation security group to press for wage hikes for night, weekend, and holiday shifts.
Verdi has urged security personnel at Stuttgart Airport to join the walkouts, which has caused the airport to halt all departures. The strike is expected to grow on Friday.
The national train operator Deutsche Bahn is one of the enterprises that will be hit by Friday’s statewide transport strike announced by the German EVG union.
The railway and transport union announced that 50 enterprises would be affected by the strike, lasting from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. (0100 GMT-0900 GMT) and causing severe disruption.
Workers are demanding better compensation to offset the rising cost of living, which has sparked a wave of strikes in recent months in Europe’s largest economy due to high inflation.
