FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Renewed warning strikes by security staff brought operations at five German airports to a virtual standstill on Thursday. The locations affected were Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and Koln/Bonn, where the industrial action began on Wednesday evening. As a rule, all departures were canceled at the airports because passengers and goods could no longer pass through security checks. There were also numerous cancellations of landings.

According to estimates by the airport association ADV, more than 580 flights are likely to have been canceled and 90,000 travelers will have to reschedule. Verdi has also called for warning strikes by security staff in Hanover, Dortmund, Weeze, Dresden, Leipzig and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden on Friday.

Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt is not affected by the warning strikes on either day. However, the two-day strike by Lufthansa cabin crew on Tuesday and Wednesday could still lead to delays and flight cancellations there and in Munich. The Ufo union had called flight attendants from the parent company and its subsidiary Cityline to strike at Frankfurt Airport and a day later at Munich Airport. There were also restrictions at other locations as a result.

At present, unions are covering air traffic with a whole wave of industrial action, sometimes leading to more, sometimes to fewer restrictions for passengers. Lufthansa is being hit particularly hard.

The week before, there were warning strikes among Lufthansa ground staff. The company was only able to operate around 10 to 20 percent of its flights. The next round of negotiations started this Thursday. Verdi is demanding 12.5 percent more pay for ground staff for a term of twelve months, while Lufthansa has so far offered 10 percent for a term of 28 months.

The collective bargaining dispute in the aviation security sector, which is currently on strike, is about the working conditions of around 25,000 employees of private security service providers. They check passengers, staff and baggage at the entrances to the security area on behalf of the Federal Police. Five rounds of negotiations have so far failed to produce a result. Verdi is demanding an hourly wage increase of 2.80 euros over a period of twelve months with overtime bonuses starting more quickly from the first hour of overtime.

According to the aviation security companies (BDLS), they have offered 2.70 euros more per hour in three stages, which would increase monthly wages by 432 euros to 470 euros. The collective agreement is to run for 24 months. A sixth round of negotiations with Verdi has been arranged for March 20.

The situation is also not easy for passengers because rail travel is also currently unreliable due to another wage dispute at Deutsche Bahn. It is true that the air transport unions are not coordinating with the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL). Nevertheless, there have already been two instances of parallel industrial action in air and rail transport.

More money is not always the focus of wage disputes. The sticking point in the wage dispute at Deutsche Bahn is the GDL's demand for a reduction in weekly working hours for shift workers from 38 to 35 hours with the same salary. This has also recently triggered criticism from the German government.

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck, for example, called on Wednesday evening for a higher value to be placed on work, for it to be seen as something positive and for it to be remunerated appropriately. "In any case, there is currently too much strike action or advertising for less and less work. And we really can't afford that at the moment," said the Green politician at the "Future Day for SMEs". Germany could not afford this in a poor economic situation. There are 700,000 registered vacancies, possibly even two million in total. At the same time, society is ageing.

"I am observing a mentality in which people are no longer striking for higher wages, but for fewer working hours," said Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) at the same event. "However, it has never been observed in history that a society maintains or increases its prosperity by working less, but in most cases efforts have to be increased in order to achieve more prosperity."/mar/DP/stw