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German air traffic control controllers: Assumption is considered probable
Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa
In German air traffic it is increasingly looking like quiet summer flight operations. Strikes became significantly less likely on Monday because Ver.di and the employers accepted an arbitrator's ruling that can resolve the collective bargaining dispute among the approximately 25,000 aviation security workers.
The agreement is still subject to approval by the respective committees. A corresponding declaration period runs until Tuesday afternoon. However, acceptance is considered likely because the arbitration recommendation has already been unanimously accepted.
As an arbitrator, the former Bremen Finance State Councilor Hans-Henning Lühr (SPD) reconciled the different positions behind closed doors at the weekend. In the end, there were salary increases in three stages between 13.1 and 15.1 percent over a period of 15 months, as the employers' association BDLS reported. The collective agreement is scheduled to run until the end of March 2025.
The particularly contentious issue of overtime bonuses was postponed and will be negotiated again at the end of the year. Until then, the previous regulations apply. Ver.di had organized several rounds of warning strikes at the airports in the sensitive area. Alternating with strikes at Lufthansa, a large number of flights were canceled in the spring. Ver.di had already accepted the arbitration decision of Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow and the former head of the employment agency Frank-Jürgen Weise for the Lufthansa ground staff.
At Lufthansa, negotiations with the UFO union for cabin crew have been postponed until the current week. According to the information, they were constructive. UFO had also already organized a strike.
mik/dpa AFX