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‘Travellers can book flights again’: German airport security staff strike deal

No more strikes are in sight for German airport security staff, who on Monday reached a wage deal proceeding months of strikes which paralysed passenger traffic.

Published: 8 April 2024 15:59 CEST
Security checkpoint
A closed security checkpoint in March at Hamburg airport, one of the airports hit heavily by recent strikes. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Marcus Brandt

Strikes stretching into the peak of travel season became less likely on Monday, after both the Verdi trade union and airport employers accepted an arbitrator’s decision which could settle the wage dispute for around 25,000 aviation security staff across the country.

Salary increases of between 13.1 and 15.1 percent were agreed in three stages over a period of 15 months, as reported by the employers’ association BDLS. 

The collective agreement, to be formalised on Tuesday afternoon, is set to run until the end of March 2025.

The affected workers are employed by private service providers who check passengers, freight and staff at airports outside Bavaria.

Hourly wages are set to increase by €1.85 and €2.90 depending on the occupational group. Verdi had previously called for an increase of €2.80 for a period of 12 months. 

From January 1st, 2025, employees at passenger checkpoints will receive a basic hourly wage of €23.30, while employees at general access control points to the airport will see their salaries upped to €22.39 per hour.

But the particularly contentious issue of overtime bonuses was postponed and is to be renegotiated at the end of the year. 

An end to airport strikes?

This year, Verdi organised several rounds of warning strikes at airports across Germany, paralysing flight traffic and affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers. 

Other airport strikes are still possible this summer, depending on the outcome of additional negotiations with flight attendants’ union Ufo, whose also staged several walkouts in the last few months.

But so far, it’s looking less likely: At Lufthansa, negotiations with the Ufo union for cabin crew have been postponed until this week, but recent talks have been constructive.

READ ALSO: Could Germany soon see more airport strikes?

According to figures from the airport association ADV, the waves of strikes in aviation security have affected around half a million passengers. 

ADV Managing Director Ralph Beisel welcomed the successful arbitration with relief.

“Although the airport operators are not party to the collective labour agreement, they were indirectly affected by the rampant warning strikes,” said Beisel on Monday. 

“Now travellers can book their flights with peace of mind again. At least the risk of strikes at the aviation security checkpoints has been averted.”

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SCHOOLS

Teachers in Berlin urged to strike on Wednesday

Germany's classrooms are overcrowded amid a shortage of teachers across the country. A Berlin union has called for a walkout on Wednesday, after officials failed to respond to requests to negotiate on the topic.

Published: 21 May 2024 11:57 CEST
Teachers in Berlin urged to strike on Wednesday

The Education and Science Union (GEW) is calling for a teachers’ strike in Berlin on Wednesday, May 22nd.

The strike comes as the latest in a long series of teachers’ strikes in response to class sizes that have grown too large. As in years past, opponents to the strike have voiced concern that it may disrupt Arbitur examinations at some schools. Classes are canceled at some affected schools.

Speaking to Tagesspiegel on Monday, state student spokesman Aimo Görne called the strike “a disappointment”, and suggested that he had hoped a strike might come outside of the examination period this year. 

The GEW, however, suggests that the need for disruptive action is clear. 

What is the strike for smaller classes about?

GEW Berlin wants to achieve smaller class sizes in state schools.

Anne Albers, chief negotiator of GEW Berlin said in a statement published on the group’s website: “[Education workers] in the schools suffer every day with poor working conditions. Currently, more than 3,500 Berlin school classes are overcrowded, even by the standards of the Senate Administration.”

She added that the GEW’s demands can be met with “good political planning”.

Wednesday’s strike was announced one month prior, after Berlin’s Finance Senator did not respond to a renewed request for negotiations on the topic of classroom sizes.

Germany has suffered a growing shortage of teachers and school staff in recent years – an issue that is exacerbated by poor working conditions for teachers in overcrowded classrooms, as well as relatively low compensation.

Research by Robert Bosch Stiftung found that two-thirds of Germany’s part-time teachers would be willing to work more if their work would be fully compensated. Often teachers are only fully compensated for teaching hours, while necessary work done outside of the classroom (such as training, meetings and communication with parents) is under-estimated and underpaid.

READ ALSO: German part-time teachers ‘prepared to increase hours’ to combat staff shortages

The GEW’s strike on Wednesday also concerns other social workers in public schools. Along with reducing classroom sizes, the GEW demands that a ratio of school psychologists to students be set.

Is solidarity for striking teachers falling?

There have been 17 strike days for smaller classes in Berlin since 2021 – the latest strike lasted for three days in October of 2023.

While relevant agencies, along with parents and other school staff, were initially largely supportive of striking teachers, it seems that some are growing tired of the ongoing walkouts.

Guido Richter, co-chairman of the Berlin Primary School Principals’ Association, told Tagesspiegel that the GEW’s goal was “correct in perspective, but illusory at the moment”. He added that schools where teachers strike end up losing lessons. 

It’s hard to imagine how classroom sizes can realistically be reduced in the short term as the shortage of teachers has only grown more severe in recent years. But the GEW has published a 15-point plan on the topic, which it believes could help reduce Germany’s teacher shortage.

The plan’s points include: increasing compensation for teachers and pay raises for trainees, recognising foreign teachers’ qualifications, more IT and administrative support, and expanding the number of teacher training courses, among others.

But while the fact that Germany’s classrooms are overcrowded is largely agreed, whether or not striking helps is not.

Even among GEW members, it seems the tactic of warning strikes is somewhat controversial. In the last round of strikes, only one in 10 salaried teachers reportedly walked out.

READ ALSO: School drop-outs rise across Germany as resources and teachers spread thin

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