Airports and bus and train stations across Germany are at a standstill, disrupting millions of commuters and travellers during one of the largest walkouts in decades in Europe’s largest economy.

The 24-hour strikes called by the Verdi trade union and railway and transport union EVG were the latest in months of industrial action that has hit major European economies as higher food and energy prices dent living standards.

Two of the country’s largest airports, Munich and Frankfurt, suspended flights while long-distance rail services were cancelled by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn.

The Verdi union is negotiating on behalf of about 2.5 million employees in the public sector, including in public transport and at airports, while the rail and transport union EVG negotiates for about 230,000 employees at railway operator Deutsche Bahn and bus companies.

Frank Werneke, head of the Verdi labour union, said the labour action was a matter of survival for millions of workers amid high inflation, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

German consumer prices rose more than anticipated in February – up 9.3 per cent from a year earlier – while cost pressures remained even as the European Central Bank has been trying to tame them with a series of interest-rate increases.

EVG chairman Martin Burkert told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper on Monday employers had not yet made a viable offer and warned further strikes were possible, including during the upcoming Easter holiday period.

Deutsche Bahn on Sunday said the strike was “completely excessive, groundless and unnecessary” and employers were warning higher wages for transport workers would result in higher fares and taxes to make up the difference. 

-AAP