DUSSELDORF, Germany - Workers at 13 airports across Germany began a 24-hour strike on Monday, almost bringing the country’s air traffic to a standstill. More than 2,600 flights were canceled, including all scheduled departures from Berlin and Dusseldorf, according to data from Flightradar24, a live flight tracker that shows real-time air traffic. Germany’s Lufthansa airlines, the largest in Europe by fleet size, has been hit hardest, with 962 flights canceled. An additional 252 cancellations were recorded by its short-haul leisure subsidiary, Eurowings. The strike was organized by Verdi, one of Germany’s largest unions representing public sector employees. Protesters are objecting to low wages and harsh working conditions. "We demand an eight percent wage increase, amounting to at least 350 euros," said Verdi’s spokesperson Andre Bill, speaking on behalf of airport and federal transport services employees. These workers, he explained, “handle daily operations, load luggage, work in registration departments and more.” Verdi is pushing for a collective wage agreement for nearly 2.5 million public sector employees, including aviation security, ground staff, and service workers. Among the strikers is Azar Sadiq, an employee at the Dusseldorf Airport, who hopes his participation would contribute to making a change in the pay he describes as insufficient. “My manager was shocked when he saw me protesting,” Sadiq said, adding that he wasn’t striking to harm his manager, but rather because the success of one, is the success of all, he said. “If I get a salary raise, you will always get the same," Azar told his manager. "Life has become more expensive and everything is becoming less affordable while we are stuck where we are," Azar explained, adding that “if you don’t demand your rights, they will be lost." Hundreds of stranded travelers were left scrambling for alternatives at Dusseldorf Airport. The German Airports Association (ADV) predicts that the strikes would impact around 510,000 travelers. "Our airline company informed me that I cannot travel from Dusseldorf, so they arranged a bus to transport us instead," said Elonia Markovich, a Bosnian tourist. German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) cited a Verdi spokesman as anticipating more strikes this week at facilities managed by both federal and local authorities. Monday's protests followed the collapse of a second round of pay negotiations. The next round of wage talks is scheduled for Friday in Potsdam, near Berlin, the capital.
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