Union calls on security workers at most major German airports to strike on Thursday

BERLIN (AP) — A union has called on security staff at most of Germany’s major airports to stage a one-day strike on Thursday as it steps up pressure on employers in a pay dispute.

The ver.di union announced the strikes on Tuesday. It said the strike will affect Germany’s busiest airport, Frankfurt, as well as Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Berlin, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt and Stuttgart. Munich airport, Germany’s second-busiest, isn’t affected.

Three rounds of talks so far haven’t produced a settlement for some 25,000 security workers. Ver.di is seeking a raise of 2.80 euros per hour ($3.03) for all employees and calling for bonuses for overtime work to kick in from the first extra hour.

The employers’ assocation says it has offered a 4% raise this year and 3% next year, as well as concessions on when overtime bonuses kick in. Talks are due to resume on Feb. 6.

“Warning strikes” of limited length are a common tactic in German pay disputes. In a separate dispute, ver.di has called for strikes Friday on local public transport systems in much of the country.

Those will not affect the mainline railway system, which has been hit recently by a bitter pay dispute that resulted in full-scale strikes. The GDL union, which represents many of Germany’s train drivers, on Monday ended a five-day strike earlier than originally planned after agreeing to resume talks with the state-owned main railway operator, Deutsche Bahn.

That dispute centers on a demand by GDL for shift workers’ hours to be reduced from 38 to 35 per week without a pay cut.