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Renewed airport strikes

March 15, 2013

Hundreds of security personnel at the Düsseldorf and Cologne-Bonn airports have gone on strike once again over an ongoing wage dispute. Scores of flights have been cancelled.

https://p.dw.com/p/17yM7
Das Sicherheitspersonal am Flughafen in Düsseldorf (Nordrhein-Westfalen) streikt am 15.03.2013 vor einer weiteren Tarifverhandlung. An den Flughäfen in Düsseldorf und Köln/Bonn müssen die Passagiere aufgrund eines erneuten Streiks des Sicherheitspersonals mit langen Wartezeiten und Flugausfällen rechnen. Foto: Daniel Naupold/dpa
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

In the latest round of a weeks-long wage dispute, North Rhine-Westphalia's (NRW) major airports were hit by strikes again on Friday, with more than 300 flights cancelled by early morning.

At Düsseldorf International Airport, Germany's third largest, 228 flights were cancelled. Seventy-eight flights were cancelled at Cologne-Bonn Airport.

"In total at both airports, 250 security personnel laid down their work at 4 o'clock in the morning," said a spokesperson for the labor union Verdi. The strike is expected to last until around midnight.

The two airports have encouraged passengers to check their flight status with their carrier, travel agent or on the airports' websites.

Verdi has been fighting for a wage increase of 2.50-3.64 euros ($3.25-$4.73) per hour. In the branch's lowest wage positions, security personnel currently earn 8.23 euros.

A new round of wage negotiations opened on Friday. Verdi said that it has not ruled out a "breakthrough."

slk/hc (AFP, dpa)