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Striking train drivers in Cologne (photo from an earlier strike in mid-February)
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Panama Pictures / IMAGO
On Monday, the service union Ver.di began its tactic, which it calls a “wave strike”: employees of transport companies (almost) across the country are stopping work - although not at the same time, but over different periods of time.
The union wants to build pressure on employers in the ongoing collective bargaining.
First things started in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.
Citizens there have been feeling the effects of the strike since Monday morning: With the exception of subcontractors, no buses left the farm of the participating companies in Saarland, said the responsible union secretary Christian Runde from the Ver.di district of the Saar Trier region.
The strike in Saarland and Trier is supposed to end at 1 a.m.
The union has not yet published a timetable for other regions of Rhineland-Palatinate.
This is still being voted on.
For many of those affected, the situation is confusing due to the “wave strategy” pursued by Ver.di.
So when will there be a strike and where?
Here you will find an overview of federal states, cities and municipalities as well as the affected transport companies, as far as they have been published by Ver.di.
Rhineland-Palatinate areaopen
February 26, 2024
Ver.di is calling on the collective bargaining employees of private bus companies to go on an all-day strike starting at 3 a.m.
It ends at the end of the shift on the same day.
According to the union, those affected are:
DB Regio Bus Center (Mehren)
MB Moselbahn (all locations)
According to Ver.di, many parts of the Trier region are likely to be affected by the strikes.
Lower Saxony areaopen
02/29 until 01.03.
Hanover
Braunschweig
Osnabruck
Göttingen
Wolfsburg
Goslar
Berlin areaopen
02/29 until March 1st, 2024 (2 p.m.)
The Berlin transport company BVG and its subsidiary Berlin Transport are on strike.
AreaSaarlandopen
February 26, 2024
Saarbahn
Saarbahn Netz GmbH
Neunkircher Verkehrs GmbH
Vehicle service Neunkirchen GmbH
Roundabout company Saarlouis (KVS/KVG)
Völklingen transport company VVB
AreaHamburg and Schleswig Holsteinopen
02/29 until March 2nd, 2024
The
Hamburger Hochbahn
and the
Hamburg-Holstein transport company (VHH) are on strike.
The strike begins at 3:00 a.m. on Thursday and ends at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday.
The night buses from Friday to Saturday are also affected.
In addition, Ver.di Nord is calling on all employees in the
Omnibus Association Nord (OVN)
to go on a five-day warning strike.
The warning strike begins on Monday (02/26/24) with the start of work and ends with the last service on Friday (03/01/24).
You can find the OVN member companies here.
North Rhine-Westphalia areaopen
02/26 until March 2nd, 2024
Ver.di is calling for a wave strike from Monday, February 26th, 2024 to Saturday, March 2nd, 2024.
The main strike day is March 1st.
Those affected are:
Duisburg transport company
Rheinbahn AG (Düsseldorf)
WSW mobil GmbH (Wuppertal)
Solingen public utilities
Remscheid municipal utilities
Railways of the city of Monheim
MVG Märkische Verkehrsgesellschaft (Lüdenscheid)
Verkehrsgesellschaft Ennepe-Ruhr mbH (Ennepetal)
Hagen tram
Cologne transport company
Stadtwerke Bonn GmbH (SWB)
Stadtwerke Bonn Services GmbH (SWBD)
Stadtwerke Bonn Verkehrs-GmbH (SWBV)
wupsi GmbH (Leverkusen)
WestVerkehr GmbH (Geilenkirchen)
Investment company Kreis Düren mbH (BTG)
Lower Rhine transport company NIAG (Moers)
SWK Mobil (Krefeld)
NEW mobile and active Mönchengladbach
NEW mobile and active Viersen
Dortmund municipal utilities
Vestische trams (Herten)
Bochum-Gelsenkirchen trams
Ruhrbahn (Essen)
STOAG Stadtwerke Oberhausen
Tram Herne – Castrop-Rauxel
Hamm municipal utilities
Hamm transport company
Gütersloh municipal utilities
Münster municipal utilities
REVG Rhein-Erft-Verkehrsgesellschaft (Kerpen)
moBiel GmbH (Bielefeld)
Brandenburg areaopen
02/28/2024
Uckermärkische Verkehrsgesellschaft with locations in Templin, Prenzlau, Schwedt and Angermünde
02/29/2024
Ostprignitz-Ruppin local transport company
March 1, 2024
ViP Verkehrsbetriebe Potsdam GmbH,
Dahme-Spreewald regional transport company
Uckermärkische Verkehrsgesellschaft (Schwedt)
Transport company Tältow-Fläming (VTF)(Luckenwalde)
Bus transport Oder-Spree (Fürstenwalde)
Barnimer Bus Company (Eberswalde)
Cottbus traffic
Havelbus transport company (Nauen)
regiobus Potsdam Mittelmark
Frankfurt an der Oder city transport company)
DB Regio East (Potsdam)
Brandenburg an der Havel transport company
AreaBaden-Württembergopen
02/27/2024
Karlsruhe
Baden-Baden
February 28, 2024
Stuttgart
Esslingen
Reutlingen (private bus companies)
Saxony-Anhalt areaopen
02/29 until March 1, 2024
Dessau
Hall
Magdeburg
Burgenland district
Thuringia areaopen
February 28th to 29th
Municipal transport companies in
Erfurt
Gera
Jena
Mulhouse
Nordhausen
Sondershausen
Weimar
Weimarer Land district
Saale-Holzland district
Saxony area expand
02/29 until March 1, 2024
Employees in the following cities and districts have been called on strike:
Zwickau district
Erzgebirgskreis
Central Saxony
Meissen
Saxon.
Switzerland/Eastern Ore Mountains
Bautzen
Görlitz
Plauen
Chemnitz
Dresden
According to Ver.di, the following AVN Group companies are affected:
Regionalverkehr Westsachsen GmbH Zwickau
Euro Traffic Partner Chemnitz
REGIOBUS Mittelsachsen GmbH
Regional transport Erzgebirge GmbH
Verkehrsgesellschaft Meißen mbH
Dresdner Verkehrsservicegesellschaft mbH
Regional transport Saxony.
Switzerland-Osterzgebirge GmbH
Verkehrsgesellschaft Hoyerswerda mbH
Regionalbus Oberlausitz GmbH
Görlitzer Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH
The following will continue to be on strike:
DB REGIO Bus Ost GmbH (Zittau branch)
Upper Lusatia Niesky bus service
Tram-Bus GmbH Plauen
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania areaopen
March 1, 2024
The responsible northern regional association has not made any specific municipalities or companies on strike public
On March 1st, all collectively agreed public transport companies as well as the Vorpommern-Rügen transport company (VVR) are to go on strike.
According to the union, Friday, March 1st will be the main strike day.
Rallies are also planned in many cities.
In collective bargaining, Ver.di wants to achieve better working conditions for the approximately 90,000 public transport employees in over 130 municipal companies - for example through fewer weekly working hours, more vacation or additional relief days for shift and night work.
At the beginning of the month, Verdi had already paralyzed local public transport in almost all of Germany with a labor dispute.
“The signal that the employees sent with their strike on February 2nd was apparently not sufficiently understood,” criticized Ver.di deputy chairwoman Christine Behle.
The collective bargaining negotiations in the individual federal states still remained without results.
“In order to finally bring movement into the negotiations, pressure must now be put on the employers again,” emphasized Behle.
So far they have not signaled any concession.
This means that – except in Bavaria – another strike is unavoidable.
"That's why we're calling on the employees to take concerted strikes."
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