**10,000 Fans Incentive Plan
Hundreds of thousands of passengers are facing travel challenges as workers at German railways and airports go on strike for higher wages.
German freight rail workers began a 35-hour strike on Wednesday (March 6) afternoon, while passenger services began a strike in the early hours of the next morning. The 35-hour strike was in line with the union's call for rail workers to work less than 38 hours per week.
In recent months, German railway workers have gone on strike several times to demand a pay increase in order to cope with the cost of living due to inflation**. In January, a strike by train drivers disrupted thousands of passengers for several days.
Claus Weselsky, president of the German train drivers' union GDL, said earlier this week that this more limited strike action was the start of a wave of strikes, with more strikes to be announced when the union deems the time is right, rather than with 48 hours' notice as in the past.
He also said that railways are no longer a reliable means of transport.
The rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, condemned the strike and said it had relented by proposing a 13 percent pay rise.
At the same time, Lufthansa's ground staff also began a new two-day strike on Thursday (7th); Security personnel at Frankfurt and Hamburg airports also went on strike for a day.
According to a statement from the airport, Frankfurt Airport, Germany's largest aviation hub, will result in widespread disruptions and cancellations of flights at the airport throughout the day on Thursday, and the airport will be closed to all outbound passengers.
The strike by Lufthansa's ground staff is expected to further disrupt the airline's services at other airports. The last one-day strike affected around 100,000 passengers, 80 to 90 percent of flights were grounded, and workers' representatives and Lufthansa management blamed each other for the disruption.
Verdi, Germany's second-largest trade union, has previously indicated that it wants a 12. salary rise for union workers5%；Lufthansa has proposed a long-term salary increase, but it is not enough to meet the union's demands.
German workers and employers have been negotiating pay packages amid high inflation and weak business activity, and Germany has been plagued by strikes for months. The strike action has spread to a number of sectors, including the transport sector, supermarkets and the civil service.