BERLIN (Reuters) – The majority of flights at Germany’s regional airports in Duesseldorf and Cologne-Bonn were canceled on Monday due to a 24-hour strike called by trade union Verdi, the airports said.

At Düsseldorf airport, only 89 of the 330 scheduled flights will take place while 29 have been diverted to other airports and seven have been rescheduled for the following day.

Of the usual 136 daily passenger flights scheduled for Monday at Cologne-Bonn airport, only two could be carried out as planned.

The German union Verdi filed the strike notice on Friday as collective negotiations on wage increases in the public services and the aviation security sector failed to bring an agreement closer.

“If the employers continue to obstruct and do not present us with results, then the reaction of the employees here is clear,” said a Verdi spokesman at Cologne-Bonn airport.

The airports, which host airlines such as Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Aegean Airlines, were largely empty as passengers were notified of the strike in time to change their plans.

The union blocked air traffic earlier this month with one-day strikes at seven major airports, including hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, affecting nearly 300,000 passengers.

Cities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, including Cologne, Leverkusen and Bonn, were also hit by public service strikes on Monday.

Verdi and the German Civil Service Association are calling for a 10.5% increase in the salaries of public sector employees at the federal level, or at least 500 euros more per month.

(Written by Miranda Murray and Friederike Heine, Kate Entringer, editing by Matthieu Protard)

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