Germany: Turkish airport workers missing

The federal government’s plan to solve the staff shortage at German airports with Turkish workers does not seem to have succeeded. Why;

Endless queues, delays and thousands of flight cancellations – politicians and the airline industry wanted to solve these problems at German airports with the help of workers from abroad. At the end of June, the temporary hiring of foreigners and mainly Turkish workers was officially decided.

However, the German plan to solve or at least alleviate the problems at German airports by hiring Turkish workers seems to have failed. The plan initially envisaged the temporary employment of around 2,000 Turkish workers in Germany. Instead of 2,000, only 60 arrived and they only arrived at two airports, Munich and Nuremberg.

The situation at German airports

Although many airports saw the initiative as positive, the plan cannot be said to be a success: Dusseldorf Airport announced that based on official information, there are no workers from Turkey, but advised companies to register their needs and supports hiring employees. Alexander Weise, a spokesman for Bonn-Cologne Airport, told DW that 20 workers were needed at the start of the summer holidays. Those workers haven’t arrived yet, but things seem to be going well for now.

“Recently, companies at airports in Germany and other EU countries have been intensively looking for staff and have now managed to hire a number of workers,” Julia Fohmann, a spokeswoman for the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) told DW. However, the number of recruitments originally planned has not been made. Why;

Slow moves by the German government and little time

There are several reasons behind the unexpectedly low number of foreign hires. According to Foman, the state acted too slowly and unrealistically. According to Foman, despite initial hopes that a short-term special permit from the federal government would allow Turkish workers to be hired as early as spring, the government did not make the necessary decision until July 6 — already too late for a successful implementation. of the design.

Emre Eser, DW’s correspondent in Turkey, has been following the issue for some time and has identified several reasons for the failure of the original plan. “There were too many obstacles,” he points out, stressing that mainly Germany had not clarified the application process for Turkish applicants. “Many couldn’t apply because they didn’t have instructions,” he says.

The limited time and requirements also played a role in the fact that many did not apply: “Everything happened very quickly. People had to leave their homes and organize everything to do with their families. And there was a lot some time for that,” adds Esser. Moreover, the strict conditions also acted as a deterrent. Many of the workers working in the baggage department at Turkish airports do not know English or German.

Another reason is the good working conditions, under which they are currently working in Turkey. Many service companies do not want to lose their workers, so they have increased their wages. “Some companies involved in Istanbul Airport pay double or even triple the minimum wage. The conditions are very good compared to many other sectors. This also plays an important role. The staff actually had no reason to come to Germany for to work for a while,” observes Esser.

The airline industry is demanding faster processes

The shortage of personnel in the German labor market is not a new phenomenon, and with the aging population and the low birth rate, workers from abroad will also be needed in the future. This is a key problem, which concerns, among others, airports.

The airline industry complains that the federal government has not implemented the plan immediately and is calling for it to speed up the process. When asked by DW, Edgar Engert, a press representative at Munich airport, notes that the process of hiring Turkish workers took more than two months. Understandably, however, a major shift in German labor immigration policy is not going to happen overnight. Although the chaos at German airports seems to remain for the foreseeable future, the German Aviation Industry prefers to see the glass as half full: “Even the few workers who come are a big help, as they strengthen the ground services at the airports.

Burak Inverness

Edited by: Efthimis Angeloudis

Source: Deutsche Welle