Germany: public transport paralyzed by the latest strikes

Public sector workers in several German states dropped tools on Friday in the latest so-called warning strike, as talks between employers and a major union falter.

Local public transport was the focus of strikes in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden Württemberg, Lower Saxony, Bremen and Saxony.

Almost all trams or local trains and buses in the affected regions were not scheduled to operate throughout the day.

A series of public sector strikes took place across the country over the winter, recently affecting airports in particular, but also other services such as postal deliveries.

Leading union Verdi, Germany’s second-largest by membership, is trying to negotiate a pay rise of 10%, or a minimum of €500 a month (about $530), for about 2.4 million employees. in a variety of areas, from bus and tram drivers to nursery workers and others. He also wants a promise of renewed talks 12 months later.

Unions say both abnormally high inflation in 2022 and workers who are already paid too little are contributing to demands. The last round of talks, which began in January, concluded without progress last week.

Fridays for Future protests in parallel

Meanwhile, as more people were likely forced to use their cars, climate change activist group Fridays for Future said it would organize nationwide protests to coincide with the strikes.

The first evidence of this could already be seen on Friday, with police in the western city of Bonn saying: “Currently, people are blocking traffic on the Adenauerallee, heading towards Bonn” and advising drivers to avoid the area, if possible.

“Indeed, people are crowding the road,” police said in response to a question about whether they were describing such a protest.

That said, while the group in Germany linked the activity to strikes and said it was coordinating with unions, it was also calling for a “Global Climate Strike” on Friday in general.

The head of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), Steffen Kampeter, said it was a mistake to link the two actions. He said that while strikes are a legitimate tool in wage disputes, they should not be mixed up with broader political goals and campaigns.

Union leader calls criticism ‘complete nonsense’

The co-leader of Germany’s Green Party, Ricarda Lang, expressed support for the strike in an interview with online news portal web.de. She said rural areas in particular are struggling to recruit bus drivers.

“They need good wages and better working conditions, for example a shift system that is familiar,” said Lang.

The General Secretary of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, defended the strike wave in an interview with a podcast operated by the Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger and the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland newspaper group.

She said it was “obviously complete nonsense” to say unions had lost their sense of perspective, even citing the current economic difficulties.

“In every crisis, we repeatedly hear these demands for moderation, restraint, restraint – for collective responsibility,” Fahimi said. But she said that at the end of these crises, the end result has always been “that the rich get richer and the whole issue is paid for by the workforce.”

She said this could not continue and that employees could not “fall behind” amid rising inflation.

Fahimi also said it “makes sense” that Fridays for Future would protest in parallel. She said Verdi and the climate activist group shared an interest in “a massive expansion of local public transport” – though not this Friday in much of Germany.

msh/nm (AFP, dpa)

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