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STRIKES

Flight cancellations as Eurowings employees strike in Düsseldorf

Eurowings passengers at Düsseldorf Airport can expect flight cancellations on Tuesday. During a warning strike, employees of the Lufthansa subsidiary stopped working this morning, now affecting 26 flights.

Published: 20 November 2018 10:53 CET
Updated: 20 November 2018 11:57 CET
Flight cancellations as Eurowings employees strike in Düsseldorf
Photo: DPA

While the customers had been informed in advance, the ticket counters were still staffed with more employees than usual for security reasons.

“The situation in the terminal is calm”, said an airport spokeswoman.

Eurowings advised passengers to arrive at the airport in advance, as there could be delays at check-in and in the security area.

In the wage dispute with the airline, the Verdi union had called on the cabin crews of the airlines Eurowings and LGW to go on a warning strike from 4:30 a.m. to 12:30 noon. Verdi spokesman Volker Nüsse said there had already been a good turnout early on Tuesday morning. “We are very determined and combative.”

According to the union, Eurowings employs 500 of the more than 1000 cabin workers at its main location in Düsseldorf. The aviation company Walter (LGW) has been an operational unit of Eurowings since it was purchased by Lufthansa in October 2017. The strikes also affect LGW.

Passengers should inform themselves in advance at www.eurowings.com, by logging on to the Eurowings app or via the airline’s hotline (+49 180 6 320 320) about whether their flight is taking place. 

In a press release, however, the airline had stressed that it was “able to carry out the vast majority of its flights in Düsseldorf.” Other locations are therefore not affected.

The action is happening because of the refusal by employers to meet employees' calls in the current collective bargaining, the union Verdi explained. Among other things, it demands reliable staff rosters, better working and standby times, and a strong workers’ council.

Eurowings contradicts collective agreements, the union has complained, with service shifts lasting longer than they legally should.

Eurowings, for its part, condemned the union's actions. The call for a strike was made despite the fact that the airline had already arranged the next meetings with Verdi. “This behaviour is no longer comprehensible to anyone,” the company said.

The negotiations with LGW are about an employment guarantee and the salaries of about 350 flight attendants. Verdi criticizes the company for refusing further negotiations.

At the end of October, negotiations on a severance scheme for around 200 flight attendants at Berlin-Tegel failed. The former Air Berlin subsidiary LGW plans to close the station next year.

 

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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