In the wage dispute with the ground crew Hamburg airport has warned the union Ver.di against an unannounced warning strike before Easter. This would particularly affect vacationers, said airport spokeswoman Katja Bromm.
"Families with children, but also older people who want to visit their relatives at Easter, come to the airport and find themselves there in the midst of crowds in the greatest uncertainty," said Bromm. Even families who returned from the holidays would be affected. According to Bromm, around 50,000 passengers are expected at the airport every day during Easter holidays.
New warning strikes threaten because the Ver.di members had rejected a collective agreement already reached with the airport for the approximately 950 ground handling workers in the past week and had made additional demands. On Friday, the airport had renegotiated a cancellation. "With the revocation of the tariff agreement Ver.di went too far", said Christian Noack, managing director of the airport subsidiary HAM Ground Handling GmbH.
Already during the six rounds of negotiations, the employees had been on several occasions in February and March in the warning strike. Such a warning strike would always have the same effect on the airport, Bromm said: "There are delays and cancellations, but for passengers it makes a difference: it hits hardest when the union goes off unannounced." In this case, the airlines would not have enough time to inform the travelers about flight cancellations.