Airport strike in Berlin extended to Wednesday

Ground staff workers wait in a room at the airport Tegel during a strike of the German ver.di union at the airports in Berlin, Friday, March 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The strike that has stopped flights in and out of Berlin airports has been extended to Wednesday, said the ground personnel union.

The strike has already affected 600 departures on Monday alone.

Monday was the second time in a few days that the employees went on strike at Berlin’s main Tegel airport, and also at Schönefeld airport.

Initially, approximately 2,000 ground staff stopped work for 25 hours, but on Monday morning, the Verdi union announced that the strike will now last until Wednesday morning.

The strike is expected to cause at least 448 departures from Tegel to be grounded, and 194 from Schönefeld on Monday.

For Norwegian travellers, the SAS roundtrip flight between Oslo and Tegel, Berlin, has been grounded on Monday.

Ryanair is flying its Berlin passengers to Hamburg, and asked customers to allow plenty of time because the extra travel time by special bus service from the airport to Berlin is about three hours.

The strike started at 04.00 on Monday morning. The Verdi Union is demanding that the average hourly wage is raised from 11 to 12 euros for a one-year contract. Employers have offered the sum over a three year period, which has not been acceptable to the employees.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today