Anyone who wanted to fly to/from Berlin on Wednesday, January 24, 2022 cannot do so. Commercial air traffic has been completely suspended due to a warning strike called by the Verdi union. Around 300 flight movements and around 35.000 passengers are affected.
BER is particularly paralyzed because no agreement has been reached in the collective bargaining so far. The Verdi union has therefore called on the workers to walk out between 3:30 a.m. and 23:59 p.m. Essential areas for flight operations such as security, fire brigade, baggage handling or fueling are affected. It quickly became clear to the management that operations would have to be completely suspended due to the strike. Thus, shortly after the work stoppages were announced, it was announced that no commercial flights could be operated on Wednesday.
In terms of content, it is about the fact that Verdi is demanding around 500 euros more wages per month for airport employees and employees of ground handling service providers. The term of the collective agreement should be one year. However, employers offer longer terms and one-off payments of up to EUR 2.000. Negotiations are to be resumed on January 30, 2023 and February 8, 2023.