Next Monday, Germany will largely stand still – on the rails, on rivers and at airports: the Verdi union and the railway and transport union (EVG) have called for a large-scale nationwide warning strike in the transport sector for this day. Long-distance and regional rail transport, almost all German airports, waterways and ports as well as the motorway company are affected, as both unions announced in Berlin.
“This strike day will have a massive effect,” said Verdi boss Frank Werneke. “The all-day strike usually begins on the night of March 26/27 at 00:00 and ends at 24:00,” both unions said.
Third round of negotiations on Monday
With the actions, Verdi is increasing the pressure for the third round of negotiations with the federal and local governments, which begins on Monday. Together with the civil servants’ association dbb, the union for the public sector is demanding 10.5 percent and at least 500 euros more wages. The employers submitted an offer in the second round of negotiations at the end of February. Among other things, it includes a pay increase of five percent in two steps and one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros.
At the end of February, EVG began negotiations with Deutsche Bahn and around 50 other railway companies. The first round of negotiations with all companies ended this Thursday.
The union had rejected an initial offer from Deutsche Bahn last week. She demands at least 650 euros more wages. In the case of higher wages, she is aiming for an increase of twelve percent with a term of the collective agreement of twelve months. Among other things, Deutsche Bahn had offered to raise the wages of the approximately 180,000 employees affected by a total of 5 percent in two steps and promised one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros.
Deutsche Bahn: Long-distance traffic is discontinued
As a result of the warning strike, Deutsche Bahn announced that it would have to stop all long-distance traffic on Monday. Even in regional traffic, “mostly no trains will run,” the group announced on Thursday. “According to statements by the union, the first effects of striking employees are already possible on Sunday evening,” it said. The warning strike will therefore still affect rail traffic on Tuesday.
In the Verdi organizational area, employees at all German commercial airports except Berlin have been called to walk out. As a result of the industrial action, air traffic will be restricted throughout the period.
air traffic
The company operating Frankfurt Airport has already announced that there will be no regular flight operations there on Monday. “All tasks that enable full flight operations” were suspended due to the warning strike, Fraport announced on Thursday. “Fraport therefore urges passengers to refrain from traveling to the airport.” Even transfer traffic could not take place at the largest German airport. According to Fraport, around 1,170 take-offs and landings with a total of around 160,000 passengers were originally planned for that day.
Regular flight operations were also not possible at Munich Airport on Sunday and Monday due to the labor dispute, as the operator announced. “On Sunday, 737 take-offs and landings were planned at Munich Airport. On Monday, 772 flight movements would be on the program,” it said.
The super strike day will also lead to significant disruptions on German waterways. “We are aware that locks are on strike on individual waterways,” said a spokeswoman for the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) of the German Press Agency. “It can be assumed that there will be delays in shipping.”
These rail companies are affected
According to the EVG, the railway companies Transdev, AKN, Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen, erixx, vlexx, eurobahn and Die Länderbahn are affected on the rails in addition to Deutsche Bahn. According to its own statements, Deutsche Bahn expects “massive impairments” for the entire railway operation. Long-distance, regional and S-Bahn traffic are likely to come to a standstill nationwide.
EVG boss Martin Burkert advised all travelers to get to their destination as early as possible on Sunday, “because there can definitely be shifts that start on Sunday evening and start on Monday.” Verdi is also calling for walkouts in local public transport in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and large parts of Bavaria.
Strike at the Autobahn company
The highway company is also on strike. “We will also look at certain tunnels,” said Christine Behle, deputy Verdi national chairwoman. However, the motorway company rejected fears that the tunnel could be closed. “In particular, the operational service on the federal trunk roads must be maintained,” the company said. “For this purpose, emergency service agreements are concluded, for example to avoid tunnel closures.” This also applies to the Elbe Tunnel in Hamburg, which Behle cited as an example.
Bahn HR Director Martin Seiler called the actions on Thursday “completely exaggerated, unnecessary and “disproportionate”. He called on the EVG to return “immediately” to the negotiating table. It could be that the union only wants to continue negotiations at the next round of negotiations at the end of April not “be the seriousness of the union”.
Local and long-distance transport as well as airports all over Germany were struck more than 30 years ago in the course of a strike that lasted several weeks. During this hard industrial dispute in the public service in the spring of 1992, several hundred thousand employees temporarily stopped working. However, this was a regular industrial action, not a warning strike.
