 Security staff at various airports across Germany went on strike for two days, starting Monday, March 14, demanding a hike in wages. The workers under the leadership of the trade union, Wurbe, joined strikes in many German airports including Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. The strike caused a large-scale disruption in the flight schedules, leading to cancellation of hundreds of flights. The workers went on strike soon after the failure of the union's negotiation with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies, or BDLS, demanding wage increase and parity in wages among different sectors. The Wurde Union had demanded an increase in the early wage rate of at least one euro for around 20,000 airport security staff across the country. BDLS refused to agree to the union's demand calling it utopian, but Wurde retorted stating that the union's demand for wage increase is based on economic forecasts and was already presented to the authorities in December last year. The union has also raised the issue of the disparity in wages between the airport security staff in different sectors and the existing differences in wages from region to region. Wolfgang Piper from Wurde told the media that airports have partly outsourced security services themselves to external security companies and a majority of those companies are now part of BDLS, with which the union is currently negotiated. Wurde has also accused the BDLS of not keeping the promises made in the last collective agreement made three years ago, in which the promise to make the wage adjustments that are subject of the current negotiations. Meanwhile, the airport association has criticized the union and the striking workers for damaging the good image of Germany as a travel destination. Negotiations over the issues happened on Wednesday and Thursday, but nothing concrete has come out of it.