Mon, May 28, 2012, 11:46 AM EDT - U.S. Markets closed for Memorial Day

Frankfurt Airport workers strike; flights canceled

Hundreds of flights canceled as Frankfurt Airport strike enters second day

Associated Press – Fri, Feb 17, 2012 7:48 AM EST

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BERLIN (AP) -- Hundreds more flights were canceled Friday at Frankfurt Airport, Europe's third busiest, as a ground workers' strike entered its second day.

However, international flights were not affected, and airport lines and delays otherwise appeared to be limited.

Mike Peter Schweitzer, spokesman for airport operator Fraport AG, said "just over 290" flights had to be canceled but that the airport was otherwise "operating smoothly." Airline Lufthansa said that 68 flights within Europe had been called off.

Herbert Mai, executive in charge of labor relations for Fraport, said the airport was able to maintain 70 percent of its daily flights on Thursday, the first day of the strike, exceeding its goal of operating more than half its 1,300 daily takeoffs and landings.

"We think that we can process even more today so that the strike repercussions are lower than expected or feared," Mai said.

Workers walked off the job Thursday afternoon for seven hours, and were to be on strike all day Friday.

The GdF union is engaged in a dispute with airport operator Fraport over pay and working conditions for some 200 ground workers.

GdF spokesman Markus Siebers said he could not say how long the strike would continue. "We have no offers up until now, and we are not even in contact" with airport management, he said.

 

8 comments

  • Where's Waldo
    Where's Waldo  •  Beech Grove, Indiana  •  3 months ago
    Not all Unions are bad. They all get lumped together. Its like saying all of a ethnic group is bad or all of a church group are bad.
    They need to print more of the details so we can decide if they have a good grevience or not.
    Bad reporting.
    • Post.Haste
      Post.Haste 3 months ago
      Yep, 'pay and working conditions" is not much of a story
    • 5th Horseman
      5th Horseman 3 months ago
      name a good one. go on- name one.
  • Old_School!
    Old_School!  •  3 months ago
    Now how is the pilots union supposed to deal with this? The ground workers are grounding the pilots. New meaning to ground control.
  • Purdy country
    Purdy country  •  3 months ago
    BOO HOO,I did not get my baby sucker today.Just like American union thugs.....U got a job,shut up and go back to work and try to do a good job..............If you agreed to take this job,then work at it.Otherwise go home....I hope they FIRE ALL union people.
    • ALL AMERICAN
      ALL AMERICAN 3 months ago
      you got that right!!!...unions are for losers...
    • 5th Horseman
      5th Horseman 3 months ago
      Fraport denounced the action as "irresponsible" and "incomprehensible", but pledged to limit disruption as much as possible. "If someone refuses to budge an inch on double-digit demands that include increases of between 50-70 percent in wages, working hours and bonuses, they're acting irresponsibly," said Fraport board member and industrial relations director Herbert Mai.
  • A Yahoo! User  •  Dalton, Georgia  •  3 months ago
    Interesting that the article had no mention of current pay and benefits. When we see articles about Chinese workers, we get details. I wonder if the writers at AP are concerned that the details of existing pay and benefits would generate a negative response?
    • 5th Horseman
      5th Horseman 3 months ago
      Fraport denounced the action as "irresponsible" and "incomprehensible", but pledged to limit disruption as much as possible. "If someone refuses to budge an inch on double-digit demands that include increases of between 50-70 percent in wages, working hours and bonuses, they're acting irresponsibly," said Fraport board member and industrial relations director Herbert Mai.

      There you go. Proof I'm more accurate and better than AP.
  • Ragan
    Ragan  •  St Louis, Missouri  •  3 months ago
    Can you just issue my pay check at home that way I don't even have to go in !!!!!
  • H
    H  •  3 months ago
    Any gov't job should not have a union for these reasons. Why they let the TSA unionize is beyond me, it's never about putting the safety or the service they provide first. The first thing they unionized is because of money.

    Civil servants are now the masters, they expect to be paid and treated like kings...
  • FS
    FS  •  3 months ago
    The labour movement has been under attack from the right, of course we all agree that excesses and corruption were present inside the big unions. However, that does not give the big business the right to bash unions and the workers as they rank even worst than the unions when it comes to abuses and corruption. Now that the economy is said to be on the mend, the ball is in the labour movement camp and time as come to put the big corporate leaders under the microscope; to each its turn.
    • Procat
      Procat 3 months ago
      If the left wing liberal unions can bash big business then big business can bash the liberal unions, as Obama would say everybody has to be fair.
    • Post.Haste
      Post.Haste 3 months ago
      "economy is said to be on the mend" ......... "said" being the operative word
    • 5th Horseman
      5th Horseman 3 months ago
      Fraport denounced the action as "irresponsible" and "incomprehensible", but pledged to limit disruption as much as possible. "If someone refuses to budge an inch on double-digit demands that include increases of between 50-70 percent in wages, working hours and bonuses, they're acting irresponsibly," said Fraport board member and industrial relations director Herbert Mai.
  • 5th Horseman
    5th Horseman  •  Phoenix, Arizona  •  3 months ago
    What AP censored out: Fraport denounced the action as "irresponsible" and "incomprehensible", but pledged to limit disruption as much as possible. "If someone refuses to budge an inch on double-digit demands that include increases of between 50-70 percent in wages, working hours and bonuses, they're acting irresponsibly," said Fraport board member and industrial relations director Herbert Mai.
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