Because of the collective bargaining dispute in the public sector, employees in several federal states also stopped working on Wednesday. To build up pressure, employees went on warning strikes in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, among other places. On Friday, the Verdi union also wants to extend the strikes at airports.
In the current bargaining round, the Verdi services union and the civil servants’ association are calling for an increase in income of 10.5 percent, but at least 500 euros more. Municipal employers reject this as economically unmanageable. The new collective agreement for the approximately 2.5 million employees in the public sector is to have a term of twelve months. The second round of negotiations is scheduled for February 22nd and 23rd in Potsdam.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, local government employees in particular went on strike on Wednesday. The warning strikes affected the city administrations in Oberhausen, Essen and Duisburg. Work stoppages were also planned for the administrations in Bochum, Remscheid and Solingen. In addition, day care centers, municipal swimming pools, depots and green space offices were affected by the walkout.
Hospitals partly only with emergency services
Many areas of public service were also affected by strikes in Ludwigshafen and Kaiserslautern. A Verdi spokesman said that some hospitals and energy suppliers were only operated with an emergency service. In Ludwigshafen, all daycare centers were also closed.
Public sector employees also took part in the warning strikes in Saxony-Anhalt. In Halle and the surrounding area, employees in daycare centers, administrations and savings banks stopped working.
The strikes are likely to continue in the coming days. For example, Verdi called on employees in Hamburg to take part in the warning strikes for the first time on Thursday. In addition, the union is extending the strikes nationwide to airports: All-day warning strikes are planned in Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart, Dortmund, Hanover and Bremen.
