Employees of the Swedish furniture store chain Ikea went on strike nationwide on Tuesday.
"The employees at Ikea are sending a clear signal for a good collective agreement," said the Verdi union secretary, Maren Ulbrich, on Tuesday.
The center of the strike activities are therefore Lower Saxony and Bremen, but furniture stores in Bavaria, Hesse, Hamburg, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and North Rhine-Westphalia are also participating in the strike, according to the union.
"The strike measures" are affecting individual branches, according to the furniture dealer.
"At the moment, operations are running without restrictions," replied an Ikea spokesman in writing.
Since the company is in ongoing negotiations, it is not possible to comment on Verdi's claims.
The union criticizes the "rapid digital transformation process" for which Ikea is not preparing its employees.
Currently it is about wage increases.
"At Ikea, however, the employees are also demanding a collective agreement that regulates the rapid digital transformation of the company in the interests of the employees," explained Ulbrich.
The Verdi Federal Tariff Commission therefore wants to negotiate a so-called collective agreement for the future with the management of Ikea in the next step. The aim of this contract is among other things "job security, qualification and the humane design of technology". Verdi accused the management of Ikea of having canceled an agreed negotiation date and of refusing further discussions.