Warning strikes in Germany’s public sector intensified on Tuesday, causing disruptions on roads and motorways as employees of state road construction authorities and the federally owned Autobahn GmbH walked off the job. According to union representatives and Autobahn GmbH, only part of the lanes in Hamburg’s Elbe Tunnel were open, while 28 state tunnels in North Rhine-Westphalia were affected by strikes.
Nationwide, unions such as Verdi and the German Civil Service Federation called on 14,000 employees of Autobahn GmbH and several thousand state workers to join work stoppages. Highway maintenance depots, traffic management centers and tunnel control centers were among the facilities impacted. Many locations operated under emergency service agreements to limit the effects and ensure readiness for potential incidents.
Verdi also staged strikes in other areas of the public sector. In Baden-Württemberg, actions were planned across all state institutions, including universities, ministries and museums. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the union organized protests at Düsseldorf University Hospital and the state’s IT service provider.
Further warning strikes and demonstrations are planned in the coming days amid stalled collective bargaining negotiations. The education union GEW announced a nationwide strike day for next Thursday, expecting several tens of thousands of participants. Major rallies are planned in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Leipzig. Unions are also planning a nationwide university action day next Wednesday.
Negotiations for non-civil servant state employees have been sluggish. The second round of talks ended in Potsdam on Friday without progress. Unions responded by announcing a significant escalation of strikes ahead of the third round scheduled for February. Collective bargaining for Autobahn GmbH employees is taking place in parallel.
In both negotiations, unions are demanding a seven percent pay increase, but at least 300 euros more per month. The state talks cover roughly 925,000 employees across 15 federal states. Hesse negotiates separately. Agreements are typically later applied to state civil servants and pensioners. State finance ministers rejected the unions’ demands as excessive. They have not presented a formal offer, instead proposing a “framework for agreement” consisting mainly of an inflation adjustment over a 29-month period. According to unions, Autobahn GmbH has not submitted any offer.
“We are really fed up,” said Ole Borgard, deputy head of Verdi’s Hamburg division, on Tuesday, criticizing the employers’ current position. The negotiating parties were “miles apart,” he said. At a rally outside Autobahn GmbH’s headquarters in Berlin, the Civil Service Federation and the union for road and transport workers reinforced their demands. “Anyone who pours billions into concrete and asphalt must also invest in the people who keep this country moving,” said deputy chair Thomas Plasczyk.
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