Enlarge image
Subway in Berlin: Strike on Monday could cause disruptions
Photo: Paul Zinken/dpa
The service union Ver.di has called on around 90,000 employees in municipal transport companies to stop work on different days from today, Monday to next Saturday.
Actions are planned throughout Germany except Bavaria – in waves.
Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein were already affected on Monday.
Warning strikes were also announced at the beginning of the week in Saarland and the Trier region (Rhineland-Palatinate).
Most of the strikes are scheduled to take place on Friday, March 1st.
Fridays for Future supports the local transport strike and has also called for a climate strike on the day.
Buses, trams and subways in particular are likely to be affected by the strikes.
Ver.di wants to put pressure on the ongoing collective bargaining.
According to the union, this is mainly about improving working conditions and relieving the burden on employees.
The employees of municipal transport companies went on strike on February 2nd - also supported by Fridays for Future.
The coordinated approach is intended to increase the pressure on all employers with whom negotiations are currently taking place.
In Berlin, restrictions on bus and subway traffic are expected as early as Monday.
In the capital, the NahVG, gkl and dbb civil service unions have called for a warning strike this Monday from the start of the shift at 3 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“Unfortunately, due to the strike call on Monday, passengers must expect restrictions on bus, tram and subway traffic,” said the BVG transport company.
Ver.di has called for a strike in the capital for Thursday and Friday.
It was said that the strike would start from 3 a.m. on Thursday until 2 p.m. on Friday.
“Subways, trams and most buses will not run during this period,” writes the BVG.
For Schleswig-Holstein, Ver.di has also called for a warning strike among employees of private bus companies from Monday morning.
Only urban transport in Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg and Neumünster was not affected by the strike, it was said.
"I would expect that there is hardly any reliable bus transport in the countryside," said Ver.di spokesman Frank Schischefsky before the strike began.
Another Ver.di spokesman estimated the outages on Monday morning at around 85 percent.
However, it is not yet possible to fully estimate how many buses in the northernmost federal state will actually be canceled during the week.
The negotiator of the Omnibus Association North (OVN), Klaus Schmidt, said that there could be no question of a nationwide strike.
“50 percent of bus drivers or more will drive.”
In addition to the introduction of a 35-hour week, the union is calling for shift length to be limited to a maximum of ten hours.
A minimum rest period of twelve hours is also required.
The term of the agreement should be twelve months.
mmq/AFP/dpa