And again it was said: "Nothing works anymore." Because of another warning strike by the employees at the airport security checkpoints, passengers at Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt could not start their journey on Tuesday.

The Fraport Group informed that the controls remained closed, only operations for transfer passengers were maintained.

The same scenario had happened a week ago.

Timo Kotowski

Editor in Business.

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In the collective bargaining dispute for the security forces, four rounds of negotiations between the Verdi union and the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) failed to reach an agreement.

This Tuesday, Verdi not only had employees in Frankfurt go on warning strikes, but also at eight other airports.

Hamburg Airport announced that no departures were possible there either, 140 of 260 planned departures and arrivals were canceled in Düsseldorf, 73 of 123 in Cologne, and around 100 of 150 departures in Berlin were canceled.

The Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry complained about a "disproportionate blanket paralysis" of air traffic, so "Verdi is abandoning the basis of a responsible collective bargaining and industrial action policy," said BDL Managing Director Matthias von Randow.

The Association of Hessian Entrepreneurs' Associations complained about "massive damage to the economy", the mobility of tens of thousands of travelers and freight traffic was restricted.

The strike can no longer be described as a warning strike.

Employers lack the will to reach an agreement

Ahead of the fifth round of negotiations this Thursday, Verdi is reporting a rapprochement that is not sufficient.

“We made progress in the negotiations on aligning regional wages and aligning East with West.

But when it came to the wage increase, the employers' offer fell far short of what the employees were demanding," said Verdi negotiator Wolfgang Pieper.

For the private security service providers, BDLS negotiator Rainer Friebertshäuser demanded that Verdi had to show a will to reach an agreement at all.

"So far, they have only shown that they want to massively damage air traffic through completely excessive strikes." Verdi is demanding an increase in hourly wages of at least one euro, which would mean a jump from 19.01 euros to 20 euros for air security assistants at the passenger checkpoints.

Employers last offered 19.51 euros.

Nevertheless, this should be one of the smallest points of conflict.

Aviation complains about increased costs for controls

Verdi also wants the control forces used for goods and personnel checks to rise to this highest pay level nationwide.

Depending on the federal state, the hourly rates there currently range from EUR 14.22 to EUR 17.73.

Verdi sees this as a violation of the principle of “equal pay for work of equal value”.

The employers had recently offered an increase in the rates to 16.77 to 18.23 euros, but they rejected Verdi's request of around 20 euros.