Verdi union shuts down Berlin airport workers strike
By
Gustav Kemper and Marianne Arens
17 March 2017
On Wednesday, the Verdi union stopped the strike by ground staff at the Tegel and Schönefeld airports in Berlin, despite the fact that the employer side refused to submit a new offer. On Tuesday afternoon the strike leadership announced to surprised workers at the Schönefeld airport that the strike was to be shut down until the weekend. Shortly before the union announcement, workers had participated in a demonstration through the airport.
As justification for shutting down the strike, Enrico Rümker, the strike leader at Schönefeld airport, stated that the union had been summoned to arbitration. In fact, no formal agreement has been struck on arbitration. Nevertheless, the union committee declared it wanted to consult from Wednesday on how to proceed.
Just days after starting their strike, ground services workers, who had begun their industrial action with great determination, have been confronted with a sabotage by their own trade union. At the beginning of March, workers voted for an indefinite strike by almost 99 percent to oppose the prevailing intolerable working conditions and low wages resulting from the privatization of airport ground services by the Social Democratic Party-Left Party Senate, led by former mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD).
Verdi was forced to organize a strike, but limited it to single days. A 24-hour strike last Friday was to be followed by a second 24-hour strike on Monday, which under pressure from the strikers was then extended for a further day.
At the same time, Verdi prevented a strike at Stuttgart Airport, thereby isolating the Berlin workers. The Verdi press release on Monday boasted that after the fifth round of negotiations, “another strike…