Public sector workers are staging a strike for better pay at German airports, local transportation companies and nursery schools.
The walkout has forced German airline Lufthansa to cancel some 800 flights and is expected to paralyse traffic in many of the country’s western cities.
Affected airports include Frankfurt, which is Germany’s biggest, as well as Munich, Cologne-Bonn and Bremen.
The ver.di union said Germany’s healthy economy is filling public coffers with record tax income and public workers deserve a cut.
It wants a 6%, or at least 200 euros (£174) per month, pay rise for some 2.3 million public sector employees.
Workers who stand to gain include airport ground crews, bus drivers, hospital staff, daycare employees and other municipal employees.
Further strikes are planned in the coming days.
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