The trade union Verdi has called for a nationwide “week of strikes” at Autobahn GmbH. As the union announced Monday evening, 14,000 employees of the federally owned Autobahn GmbH have been called to walk off the job starting Tuesday. The strike is set to affect highway maintenance depots as well as traffic and tunnel control centers, including the Elbtunnel in Hamburg. The background to the action is the lack of results in ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. Significant traffic disruptions are expected.
After two rounds of negotiations, the employer is offering a contract term of 29 months, which Verdi described as “a much too long duration” for the collective agreement. In addition, the employer has rejected a minimum payment “that would strengthen the lower pay groups.” “If the Autobahn GmbH needs a signal so that negotiations can develop constructively, then it shall receive one,” chief negotiator Oliver Bandosz said on Monday. Any unavoidable restrictions on roads and highways therefore lie clearly in the responsibility of the employer side.
According to the union, employees in the regional branches, the ten administrative headquarters of Autobahn GmbH, and the federal headquarters are planning break actions starting Tuesday midday. On Wednesday, highway maintenance depots across the entire network will be on strike, meaning services may be canceled, limited, or delayed, including in North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt, as well as in the Munich, Göttingen, and Hanover regions.
On Thursday, work is set to stop at major tunnel control centers. On Friday and the following Monday, employees at the Elbtunnel control center in Hamburg have been called to strike. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the union is also calling for tunnel strikes on Friday.
In the current round of negotiations, Verdi is demanding a seven percent pay increase for the 14,000 employees of the federal Autobahn GmbH, or at least an additional 300 euros per month. Trainees are also to receive 300 euros more per month, with a contract term of twelve months.
The union argues, among other things, with the “huge challenges in the coming years due to the federal investment offensive and the enormous need for renovation.” This can be achieved “only with motivated and qualified skilled workers who need fair wages and good working conditions.”
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