What was for years the pride of Germany, the social consensus, seems to have become a thing of the past. Germany is once again preparing for strikesjust one week after the last transport strikes.
At Lufthansathe cabin crew union has called for strike action Tuesday 12 March and Wednesday 13 March. This affects some 19,000 people at Lufthansa and Lufthansa City Line.
Tuesday 12 will affect flights from Frankfurt and Wednesday 13 from Munich.. As a result, the airline will be adapting its flight schedule for the two days with numerous cancellations. The airline estimates that some 100,000 passengers will suffer the consequences.
Air transport difficulties set to continue 14 March with the union of airport security and control staff calling for a 24-hour work stoppage. This will affect traffic at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Stuttgart airports.
To add to the confusion, the train drivers' union are calling for a nationwide strike of the Deutsche Bahn Tuesday 12 March.
This is the union's sixth strike in the current fares dispute and the first of the so-called 'wave' strikes. The GDL union announced on Sunday evening that it would strike from Tuesday 02:00 (freight traffic from Monday 18:00) to Wednesday 02:00 (freight traffic until Tuesday 18:00)..
According to Martin Seiler, Director of Personnel for the German railways, " we consider these wave strikes to be disproportionate. We are doing everything in the interests of our customers to prevent this strike from happening again." .
In his view, there is no reason for the strike, as DB has repeatedly stressed that it wishes to bring negotiations to a conclusion on the basis of the moderators' overall proposal - including the 36-hour week with full pay compensation.
(Updated on 13/03)
