Simone Menne, CFO of German air carrier Lufthansa AG rings the starting trading bell to mark the 50th anniversary of Lufthansa Group, at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 14, 2016 (Reuters)
Lufthansa will cancel almost 900 flights in Germany Wednesday when airport ground staff are expected to join a strike called by the country's biggest services union, Verdi, the carrier said.
Some 87,000 passengers will be affected and 895 Lufthansa flights scrapped because of the strikes at Frankfurt, Munich, Duesseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund and Hanover airports, it said.
The walkouts are being staged by Verdi members working in air safety control, ground services, at check-in counters and in engineering workshops at the airports.
It is part of industrial action intended to increase the pressure in a battle the union is fighting over public sector wages with local and federal governments.
Wednesday's strike follows stoppages Verdi has recently organised in other institutions, including hospitals, town halls and child care centres.
Lufthansa blasted the walkouts.
"We are not involved in the dispute, but we're being affected the most," the carrier complained.
"It is unacceptable that our passengers are the ones feeling the effects of the strike," said Lufthansa's personnel chief Bettina Volkens.
"Verdi is hurting an airline that offers its workforce the highest welfare standards," she added.
Lufthansa said it has cancelled 545 flights arriving and departing from Munich, with 54,000 passengers affected.
In Frankfurt, where the stoppages would last until 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), some 350 flights and 33,000 passengers would be grounded.
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