Almost all of Germany's airports are set to be hit by a 24-hour strike on Monday, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers, after the trade union Verdi called for public sector and ground handling employees to participate in the walkout.
Germany has been hit by industrial actions as the union tries to increase pressure on the federal government and municipalities ahead of another round of talks on a collective wage agreement covering some 2.5 million public sector workers.
The new planned strikes mark a major escalation in negotiations after Verdi staged several walkouts at some airports in Germany, including a two-day strike at Munich, last month.
The union warned in a statement on Friday that passengers should prepare for massive restrictions on departures and arrivals, including flight cancellations.
The association of Germany's airport operators ADV said the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of people would be disrupted. The short notice also means that "passengers will hardly have a chance to find alternative routes."
The country's two busiest airports – Frankfurt and Munich – were scheduled to operate 2,000 flights on Monday, a spokesperson for the ADV airport association told Reuters.
Frankfurt Airport said there would very likely be no departures from Germany's main hub. It advised passengers to refrain from coming to the airport and called on those transferring through the airport to check the flight status on their airline's website.
More than 150,000 passengers would be affected, it added.
Other airports affected on Monday include Stuttgart, Cologne/Bonn and Duesseldorf, Dortmund, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin and Leipzig-Halle.
A large share of employees at airport operators is covered by collective wage agreements for public sector workers, meaning they could join the industrial action due to start at midnight (11 p.m. GMT Sunday).
Germany's air traffic control operator, DFS, said it would not be directly affected by the strikes.
Verdi is demanding an 8% pay rise – worth a minimum of 350 euros ($380) more per month – as well as higher bonuses and three additional days off.
The union said it called the warning strike after a second round of collective bargaining failed last month.
Employers have rejected the demands as unaffordable, with both sides due to meet near Berlin for a third round of negotiations from March 14 to 16.
Separately, some 20,000 health care workers in Germany took part in industrial action on Thursday, while employees at kindergartens and care facilities walked off their jobs on Friday.
Verdi said it was expecting a strong turnout after calling for strikes in sectors dominated by female workers, including daycare centers, youth and welfare offices, hospitals and care homes.
Thousands of employees walked off the job in the northern city of Hamburg, the union said, with thousands expected to join rallies in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state.
Verdi said Friday's strikes were also intended to send "a clear signal" on the occasion of Equal Pay Day, marked each year on March 7, and International Women's Day on Saturday, calling for "more pay equity and better working conditions" for public sector workers in social professions, which are typically dominated by women.
