Transport problems are already beginning to be felt in many parts of Germany ahead of tomorrow’s strike by the Ver.di trade union and the EVG rail workers’ union.

At Munich airport, where Ver.di has announced a 48-hour strike already today, all passenger and transport flights have been cancelled. The same is expected to happen tomorrow and it is estimated that the protests will affect a total of 1500 flights. For different reasons, due to technical problems in Lufthansa’s electronic system, many flights were canceled and delayed at Frankfurt Airport today. The damage was repaired in the early afternoon.

Many highways are also already experiencing congestion, with 10 of the 16 states lifting emergency truck bans for Sunday to ease market supply problems.

Tomorrow, an estimated 500,000 rail, airport, highway and bus workers across the country will go on strike, plunging much of Germany into transport chaos. According to an announcement by the German Railways (DB), tomorrow there will be no intercity routes, while problems are also expected on many regional routes. Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart airports will also be closed. Germany’s largest airport association ADV warned that at least 380,000 passengers would not be served due to strike action. In addition, port and highway workers have been called to strike tomorrow. Many tunnels will remain closed.

Ver.di is demanding pay rises of 10.5%, or at least 500 euros a month, and bigger bonuses for airport staff working night shifts and public holidays. “The strike is necessary in order to make it clear to the employers that we will insist on our demands. A substantial wage increase is a matter of survival for many thousands of workers,” said Ver.di head Frank Wernecke. EVG, on the other hand, is demanding 12% raises for rail workers. DB has so far opposed increases in two stages, totaling 5%, and today described the move as “completely disproportionate, groundless and unnecessary”. Passengers now “need a quick solution, not a big strike,” said DB’s head of personnel, Martin Zeller. On the trade union side, EVG chief Martin Burkert admitted that tomorrow’s strike would be a “sharp knife” for the traveling public, but assured that unions were using it responsibly and added that he expected a reasonable bargaining proposal from employers at the meeting which is scheduled for the end of April.

Referring to the protests, government spokesman Stephen Hebstreit said the right to strike was fundamental, but called on unions and employers “to find a sustainable solution so that the consequences of this strike are not so bad for the citizens of our country”. In a poll by the YouGov Institute, however, 55% of respondents said they support tomorrow’s mobilization and consider it legitimate for the two major unions to coordinate their action.