Subways, buses and trams are now standing still in many federal states. The Verdi union wants to put pressure on the collective bargaining strike in the public sector. The fact that the warning strikes go hand in hand with the Fridays for Future climate strikes is considered by the employers' associations to be a "dangerous crossing of borders".
With warning strikes, the Verdi union wants to paralyze local public transport in parts of Germany today. The action is to take place together with the climate activists from Fridays for Future, who called for protests for more climate protection on this day. In six federal states, there should be massive impairments in local bus and train transport. The main areas affected are Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate. In some places there were already severe restrictions on Thursday, for example in Lower Saxony and Munich. In Bavaria, Verdi wants to extend the warning strikes to other regions and cities today.
Many citizens have been feeling the effects of work stoppages in the public sector for weeks. Verdi and the civil servants' association dbb want to underpin their demands in the current wage round for the municipalities and the federal government.
The negotiations for the approximately 2.5 million federal and local employees have been tough since they started in January. Verdi and the civil servants' association dbb are demanding 10.5 percent more income, but at least 500 euros more per month. In the second round of negotiations last week, despite an offer from the employers, there was still no rapprochement. The probably crucial third round is scheduled for the end of March.
Verdi boss Frank Werneke had already said that a vote on a regular strike was "on the agenda" if the third round didn't bring a breakthrough. There are likely to be significant outages in many cities. In the southwest, for example, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Mannheim, Heilbronn, Ulm, Esslingen, Constance, Baden-Baden and Karlsruhe are affected. In Stuttgart, however, there are S-Bahn trains because they are operated by Deutsche Bahn. Buses and trains are also expected to stand still in the largest cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to Verdi, the focus will be on the Ruhr area and the Rhineland, but employees also want to lay down their jobs in the Münsterland and in East Westphalia.
Violent criticism of Verdi came from the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA). They accuse the union of collaborating with Fridays for Future. This is "a dangerous border crossing," said BDA chief executive Steffen Kampeter. "Strikes are allowed to reach collective agreements that regulate working conditions." But anyone who mixes labor disputes and general political goals quickly finds themselves on a playing field beyond German collective bargaining autonomy. Political or quasi-political strikes are illegal in Germany.
