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Empty bus shelter in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Shorter working hours with full salary required
Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa
The Ver.di union has called for warning strikes in local public transport almost nationwide next week.
As the union in Berlin announced, the labor disputes are planned on different days regionally - with March 1st as the main strike day.
Bavaria is the only federal state not affected.
The collective agreement there has not been terminated, so strikes are not allowed there.
As with the warning strike at the beginning of February, the climate movement is once again supporting the strike.
Fridays for Future is organizing numerous demonstrations against the climate crisis on March 1st.
In the past few weeks there have been several warning strikes in local public transport in individual federal states.
On February 2nd, Ver.di went on strike on local public transport in almost all federal states in a nationwide coordinated action.
At that time, according to union information, up to 130 companies in more than 80 cities and around 40 rural districts were affected.
Some transport companies, such as in Aachen or Mannheim, still ran something because collective agreements apply there.
Increased load in local transport
The announced warning strike in local transport is just the latest in a series of strikes this winter.
There were, among other things, two labor disputes lasting several days at Deutsche Bahn and, most recently, several work stoppages in air traffic.
At Deutsche Bahn, the goal is to reach a collective agreement with the train drivers' union GDL in the coming week.
The peace obligation finally expires on March 3rd.
If there is no agreement by then, new labor disputes are also possible there.
The increased number of strikes has recently sparked an intensive debate about possible restrictions on the right to strike.
"The signal that the employees sent with their strike on February 2nd was apparently not sufficiently understood, because collective bargaining in the individual federal states has still remained without results," says Ver.di deputy chairwoman Christine Behle to the warning strike that has now been declared in local transport.
»In order to finally get the negotiations moving, pressure must now be put on employers again.
That’s why we’re calling on employees to take concerted strikes.”
With the bus and train strike, Ver.di wants to increase the pressure on employers.
The union's main concern is to improve working conditions for employees.
Ver.di demands, among other things, shorter working hours without financial losses, longer rest periods between individual shifts, more vacation days or more vacation pay.
Difficult to get to the climate demonstration?
The background is the increased burden on employees and the staff shortage in local transport.
In fact, bus drivers are particularly difficult to find.
For this reason, the Berlin public transport company has been running a restricted bus schedule for months.
Higher wages and salaries are also being negotiated in Brandenburg, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
Ver.di, for example, is demanding 20 percent more per month for employees in Bandenburg, but at least 650 euros.
According to the union, the term of the collective agreement should be one year.
A new collective agreement for the transport companies is being negotiated in Hamburg.
Ver.di and Fridays for Future have, among other things, created the “We ride together” campaign.
However, getting to the climate demonstrations, which are also scheduled to take place on March 1st, is likely to become significantly more difficult in many places due to the warning strike.
apr/dpa