A warning strike by ZDF employees canceled the current issue of "Morgenmagazin", which is also broadcast on ARD. Both channels switch to alternative programs. Around noon, ZDF reports the return to normal broadcasting.
The current "ZDF-Morgenmagazin" and thus one of the most important morning programs on German television was canceled on Tuesday. The public broadcaster in Mainz announced that "without prior notice" unions had been on strike since the early morning. "As a result, the "ZDF morning magazine" could not be broadcast. The editions of the "heute" programs were also affected." In the late morning, ZDF reported that all news programs would be running regularly again from 12 p.m.
Like ARD, ZDF broadcast a replacement program instead. At 9:00 a.m., the ARD “Tagesschau” was shown on ZDF instead of a “heute Xpress” edition. The "ZDF-Morgenmagazin" runs in weekly alternation with the "MoMa" of the ARD. The three-and-a-half-hour program can usually be seen Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on the first and second channels. Instead, the first ran the repetition of an older "MoMa" edition. ZDF also broadcast a replacement program.
Unions continue to put pressure on collective bargaining with the call for a warning strike, which should last from 3 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. Recently, there have been wage conflicts in many public media companies, and agreements have already been reached between unions and ARD companies.
At ZDF, the next round of negotiations is planned for December 21, according to ZDF information. According to the German Association of Journalists (DJV), there have been three rounds of negotiations so far. ZDF employees in Mainz, Düsseldorf, Berlin and those who work at the ARD-ZDF joint program Phoenix in Bonn were called to the warning strike.
The website of the association of radio, film and television producers (VRFF) read in the morning: "As was the case recently with the ARD broadcasters, nothing is really moving in the wage negotiations at ZDF either. That is why the VRFF ZDF together with the trade unions DJV and Verdi on the warning strike! From 3 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. the employees will stop their work. Food and warm drinks are available in front of the ZDF high-rise building."
(This article was first published on Tuesday, December 13, 2022.)
