As air travel recovers, Germany is set to deploy temporary foreign workers to address workforce shortages across the country’s airports.
The initiative will serve as a temporary solution, according to Germany’s interior, transport and labour ministers, reported Reuters, citing German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
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After the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, passenger flow has increased across airports in Europe.
However, staffing shortages are disrupting operations at airports and resulting in flight cancellations. Currently, the shortfall is between 2,000 and 3,000 employees.
The German ministries aim to start a joint campaign and hire a four-digit number of skilled employees from Turkey at German airports.
These employees will work for a few months, starting from July.
Germany labour minister Hubertus Heil stated that employers will have to pay collective wages and offer decent accommodation for a limited period.
Quoted by the news agency, Heil said: “We want to rule out any form of social dumping and exploitation.”
In November 2020, Germany unveiled plans to offer additional monetary support to its airports for the preservation of infrastructure and jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, the government focused on covering the gap in revenue loss at the air traffic control association Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS).
Over the course of the pandemic, the country’s airport industry called for compensation of nearly $1.2bn to cover the expenses of maintaining operations at airports.
