More than half a million people are facing travel disruption at German airports on Monday where a 24-hour strike has led to thousands of flight cancellations in a dispute about workers' pay. - REUTERS
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00:00Thousands of flights cancelled and over half a million people hit on Monday, as German
00:07airport workers staged a major 24-hour strike in a dispute about pay.
00:14The operator of Frankfurt Airport, Germany's busiest, said no passenger flights would depart
00:19from there on Monday, and some delays and cancellations could roll over into Tuesday.
00:24Heinrich Nertfler was a stranded passenger.
00:27We had to leave Switzerland a day early and then spend the night here in Frankfurt.
00:33And now we're waiting to check in at another airport.
00:36And I think it's a shame that a strike is called at such short notice.
00:41The strike, called by the Verdi Union on Friday, impacts 13 airports across the country, including
00:47Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf.
00:50The union escalated action after staging several walkouts last month.
00:55Matthias Vernehmer is the Verdi Union spokesperson.
00:59The airports are part of the public sector and we have the collective bargaining round
01:03for the public sector with over two and a half million employees.
01:06The colleagues simply want to see an offer for the third round of negotiations in order
01:10to strive for better working conditions and higher wages.
01:15Verdi is demanding an 8% wage increase, or at least an increase of $380 more per month.
01:22That's as well as higher bonuses and additional time off.
01:25Employers have rejected the demands as unaffordable.
01:29Negotiations are due to continue later this month.