Court orders end to Frankfurt strike

Striking workers at Frankfurt airport must return to work after a court on Wednesday slapped a temporary injunction on walkouts that have grounded flights at Europe’s third-busiest hub for two weeks. Judge Matthias Kreutzberg-Kowalczyk granted an application for an injunction filed by airport operator Fraport and German airline Lufthansa against walkouts by apron control staff, who have been striking since February 16 over demands for higher pay. The GdF union of air traffic workers said it would appeal the ruling, which obliges workers to call off industrial action that had initially been scheduled to run until Thursday. The court had on Tuesday also banned air traffic controllers from walking off the job in support of the strikers. Some 200 apron controllers, who direct aircraft in and out of their parking slots from the control tower and on the tarmac, have caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights a day over the past two weeks in an increasingly bitter dispute over higher pay and bonuses as well as reduced working hours. “We will appeal both decisions,” GdF chief Michael Schaefer told the reporter. “But first of all, we have to halt our industrial action and we’re in talks with Fraport about the resumption of work,” he said. Following an initial five days of walkouts, the 200 tarmac employees returned to work a week ago after agreeing to hold new talks with management. But those new negotiations quickly broke down amid bitter recriminations, and this week hundreds more flights have been grounded. Fraport insists it had made concessions “on many points in the union’s extremely high demands.” Fraport has said it has been able to ensure that around 80 per cent of flights have taken off and landed, with domestic and short-haul flights being primarily hit by the action. Frankfurt airport, Germany’s main hub, is Europe’s third busiest after London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle, handling around 1,200 take-offs and landings daily. The threatened strike by air traffic controllers and a continuing walkout by airfield staff at Frankfurt sparked hundreds more cancellations and delays at Europe’s third-busiest airport on Wednesday. Airport operator Fraport said 235 flights had been cancelled on Wednesday out of a total of 1,260, most of them owing to the walkouts by 190 staff who guide planes to parking places. The GdF union, which represents the striking workers in a row over pay and conditions, had called on air traffic controllers to join the strike for six hours on Wednesday in a show of solidarity that would have paralysed the airport. Late on Tuesday a court prohibited the solidarity strike, saying it was out of proportion. However, the ruling came too late to prevent cancellations and delays for long-haul flights which would normally have already been on their way to Frankfurt from Asia and the United States. Fraport said 50 of Wednesday’s flight cancellations were due to the threatened strike. Lufthansa, the worst affected by the action, said it had cancelled 20 long-haul flights because of the strike threat and delayed a handful of others. It said a further 140 flights have been scrapped because of the airfield walkout, which resumed on Sunday at 2000 GMT (0000 UAE, Monday) and will continue until 0400 GMT (0800 UAE) on Thursday. From gulftoday