Wage protests disrupt air traffic in Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Air traffic was interrupted in Germany on Tuesday by the strike of security personnel at several airports in the country, who abandoned their jobs to demand a salary increase.

Many flights were canceled at Frankfurt airport due to the strike organized by the union ver.di, reported the German news agency dpa. At 02:00 in the morning, employees at the controls of the freight and passenger terminals of the country's largest airport stopped working, a ver.di spokesman explained. Only passengers with a stopover were able to pass security checks in Frankfurt. Air operator Fraport had asked travelers hoping to board the city not to go to the airfield.

Employees at the airports of Hamburg, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden also supported the stoppages. In Munich, the second largest airfield in the country, the strike began on Monday afternoon. Others, including those in Berlin, Dusseldorf and Hanover canceled dozens of flights on Monday due to the one-day protest called there.

The stoppages are part of a wage dispute between ver.di and the Federal Association of Air Safety Companies. The union, which is negotiating a new collective agreement for around 25,000 airport security employees across the country, is demanding a rise of at least one euro per hour worked, among other things.

So far, three rounds of unsuccessful negotiations have been held. The parties are scheduled to meet again this week in Berlin.