Overview

• Negotiations between Verdi and German airport employers over extending a public service agreement to 30,000 ground handling employees have failed.
• Employers declined to apply the terms of the broader TVöD agreement to airport ground staff, citing an insufficient offer as the cause of the breakdown.
• Verdi has initiated a mediation process, set to begin after Easter, enforcing a temporary no-strike period under Friedenspflicht rules.
• The union warns that if mediation does not yield a satisfactory resolution, strikes at German airports could resume, disrupting travel plans.
• This dispute highlights disparities in the treatment of public sector workers, as other sectors reached agreements that excluded airport ground staff.