Public transport services by bus and rail are set to face significant disruptions in numerous cities across Germany on Friday and Saturday. The service sector union Verdi called on employees of 150 city-owned transport companies and bus operators to strike. The nationwide industrial action will be concentrated on Friday but will extend into Saturday in many collective bargaining areas, Verdi announced.
The union says it is using the strike to increase pressure on employers during the current round of collective bargaining, which covers nearly 100,000 employees across 150 city-owned transport companies and bus operators. "Negotiations are barely making progress overall, even though there have already been four rounds in some areas," said Verdi deputy chair Christine Behle.
Talks have been ongoing since November and are being conducted across all 16 federal states, primarily with the Municipal Employers' Associations (KAV). Verdi's core demands include better working conditionsm such as a reduction in weekly working hours, as well as higher pay supplements for night shifts and weekend work. In Bavaria, Brandenburg, Saarland, Thuringia, and at Hamburg's Hochbahn operator, negotiations also cover higher base wages and salaries.
Lower Saxony is exempt from the strike, where a peace obligation remains in place until the end of March. A decision on whether to join the strike action is still pending at Hamburg's Hochbahn, at Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein, and in Baden-Württemberg. This is not the first round of industrial action, an initial strike took place at the beginning of February.
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