Flight chaos ends in Germany/ Airport unions reach an agreement on wages

2023-05-19 09:46:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Verdi and the Civil Service Federation have reached an agreement regarding additional payments, days off and allowances following the interruption of flights due to strikes.

According to Skift, two German unions and an aviation safety association representing 25,000 workers in the industry have discussed and agreed with government representatives regarding additional pay for night shifts, allowances for drivers, as well as Sundays and public holidays. , reports SchengenVisaInfo.com

"The agreement presents major challenges for employers and will not be easy to implement in economic terms," ??the association said in a statement.

Germany, which has the largest economy compared to other European countries, is facing high inflation, leading to more strikes as workers demand higher wages to keep up with rising living costs.

According to data from the EU Statistics Office, Eurostat, annual inflation has reached seven percent in the EU area since April, to 8.1 percent for the EU alone. Inflation rates stood at 7.6 percent for Germany, while the lowest annual rates were recorded in Luxembourg (2.7 percent), Belgium (3.3 percent) and Spain (3.8 percent).

On the other hand, the countries with the highest inflation rates recorded for the month of April were Hungary (24.5 percent), Latvia (15 percent) and the Czech Republic (14.3 percent). Overall, annual inflation fell in 22 member states and rose in another five.

According to DW, around 700 flights were canceled due to the strikes, affecting all airports in Dusseldorf, Cologne, Bonn and Hamburg. This shows that around 100,000 passengers were affected by the industrial action.

Overall, the number of passengers affected by the strikes in the first three months of 2023 reached 900,000 passengers, who were forced to reschedule due to the Verdi strikes. Some of the measures implemented during these strikes included stopping long-haul and regional traffic, wreaking havoc on air and national traffic.

Like the Germans, the French have protested their rights after presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron proposed lowering the retirement age from 64 to 62, prompting thousands of workers to take their anger out on the streets and affecting air traffic in generally.

The CEO of EasyJet, Johan Lundgren, previously said that the consequences caused by the strike of air traffic controllers in France are unacceptable. He also called on the authorities to be quick in addressing issues related to this issue before tourists move on to other destinations./ CNA.al