Chemnitz/Dresden (dpa/sn) - In the collective bargaining dispute in the public sector, many federal and municipal employees in Saxony again stopped working on Tuesday. Around 1,000 people took part in the strike rallies, said Verdi spokesman Daniel Herold. There were effects, for example, for users of trams and buses in Chemnitz. Because of the warning strike, all tram lines and the most important bus lines failed, said CVAG spokeswoman Juliane Kirste. City-Bahn trains and lines served by subcontractors were not affected.
Citizens also had to accept restrictions in numerous city and municipal administrations, savings banks and job centers. In some places, civilian employees of the Bundeswehr were also called to go on strike. According to Verdi, kindergartens and after-school care centers were also affected in some East Saxon municipalities.
In the negotiations for the approximately 2.5 million employees, Verdi and the civil servants' association dbb are demanding 10.5 percent more income, but at least 500 euros more per month. The unions had rejected an offer from the employers as insufficient. This included, among other things, a pay increase of five percent in two steps and one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros.
The warning strikes are to be expanded on Wednesday and are likely to affect families in particular. Above all, employees of kindergartens and after-school care centers, for example in Dresden and Chemnitz as well as the districts of Central Saxony and the Ore Mountains, have been called to strike. Union spokesman Herold recommended parents to contact their employers early on about a possible failure of childcare.
