Numerous public sector employees in North Rhine-Westphalia again stopped working during warning strikes on Tuesday. One focus of Verdi’s campaigns was in the greater Düsseldorf area.
“All wheels stand still here,” said Stephanie Peifer, spokeswoman for the Düssel-Rhein-Wupper district, on Tuesday morning. Local transport, daycare centers, garbage disposal or street cleaning in Düsseldorf, Solingen, Wuppertal and Remscheid are affected. The trade union has also called for warning strikes in the western Ruhr area, in East Westphalia and in the Aachen city region.
Employees in Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony and Saarbrücken were also called on to go on warning strikes on Tuesday.
In the second round of collective bargaining for around 2.5 million federal and local employees last week, there was still no agreement. Verdi and dbb are demanding 10.5 percent more income, but at least 500 euros more per month. The employer’s offer includes, among other things, a pay increase of five percent in two steps and one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros. The third round of negotiations is scheduled for the end of March.
