Trains and buses are at a standstill, the garbage collection does not come: In several federal states, public sector employees stop working. This could only be the beginning, warns Verdi.
In the collective bargaining dispute in the public sector, the Verdi union does not rule out an extension of the warning strikes. Whether there will be widespread strikes depends very much on the second round of negotiations, said Verdi chairman Frank Werneke on Tuesday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. He hopes for a fair offer from the employer. “If not, we are of course able to mobilize in the public service as well as at the post office and at the airports. There is very, very much encouragement for our demand.”
Warning strikes in several federal states paralyzed parts of public life as early as Tuesday. Verdi was satisfied with the start of the protest and announced further strikes.
In the current collective bargaining round, the Verdi services union and the civil servants’ association are calling for an increase in income of 10.5 percent, but at least 500 euros more. Municipal employers reject this as economically unmanageable. The new collective agreement for the approximately 2.5 million employees in the public sector is to have a term of twelve months. The second round of negotiations is scheduled for February 22nd and 23rd in Potsdam.
Warning strikes in all parts of the country
In North Rhine-Westphalia in particular, the strikes caused delays and cancellations in bus and train services. In Essen, the wheels on the bus and train stood still from 3 a.m., according to a spokesman for the Verdi union. According to the transport company, no trams or buses have been running in Cologne since 3 a.m. The union announced further strikes for Wednesday.
Around 1,000 employees nationwide took part in the first major warning strikes in Schleswig-Holstein, said the press spokesman for the Verdi regional association North, Frank Schischefsky. In Lübeck, around 350 employees of the city administration, the senior citizens’ facilities and the waterways and shipping administration followed the strike call, according to union information.
In the Kiel area, the public utilities and the municipal hospital were the focus of the warning strike. For Wednesday and Thursday, the union called for further warning strikes – including in Kiel and in the Schleswig-Flensburg district.
In Bavaria, there were first warning strikes in Würzburg and Aschaffenburg, for example, where local transport and garbage disposal workers stopped working. Strikes are planned for Wednesday in Augsburg, among other places, where the staff of the day-care centers want to go on warning strikes.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, around 1,400 public sector employees in Landau, Pirmasens and Worms took part in strike events, as Verdi announced. “That’s far more than we expected,” said Jürgen Knoll, managing director of the Verdi district of Palatinate. According to Verdi, employees of the Bundeswehr and federal police also took part in the warning strikes.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
