Buses, subways and trams are at a standstill: a public transport warning strike has begun

• 15 transport companies in Berlin and Brandenburg are on strike on local transport
• Brandenburg transport companies want to strike all Friday, Berlin transport companies from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m
• There are also strikes in other federal states, except Bavaria

A warning strike on public transport began in Berlin and Brandenburg on Friday morning. BVG buses, trams and subways do not run between 3 a.m. and 10 a.m. Some transport companies in Brandenburg are also affected – there will be a strike there all Friday long. Overall will 15 transport companies in Berlin and Brandenburg went on strike (vbb.de).

In Berlin, passengers will likely have to expect impacts until midday even after the strike ends, the Senate Department for Transport announced on Thursday. The S-Bahn and the replacement buses on lines S1, S2, S25 and S26 are not affected by the strike.

The background is a call from the Verdi union to employees in local public transport. They should strike all day nationwide – excluding Bavaria. Collective bargaining is currently underway for the approximately 90,000 municipal public transport employees in over 130 municipal companies.

In Brandenburg, 14 transport companies are to go on strike all day. The strike is scheduled to last until 4 a.m. Saturday. The transport companies in the districts of Ostprignitz-Ruppin, Prignitz, Uckermark and Oberspreewald-Lausitz are not on strike. The same applies here: train traffic is not affected. S-Bahn as well as regional and long-distance trains run as scheduled. According to the Berlin-Brandenburg transport association, all construction-related replacement services for S-Bahn or regional trains are also running as planned.

The Potsdam Transport Company announced that between Friday 3 a.m. and Saturday 4 a.m. all tram, ferry and a large portion of bus journeys would be canceled. When operations begin early on Saturday morning, there could be irregularities, as in the federal capital and with transport in rural areas. The transport companies in Ostprignitz-Ruppin, Prignitz, Uckermark and Oberspreewald-Lausitz are not taking part in the strike – traffic is moving here.

• Berlin public transport company (BVG)
• VIP transport company Potsdam
• Dahme-Spreewald regional transport company
• Verkehrsgesellschaft Teltow-Fläming mbH (VTF)
• Bus transport Oder-Spree GmbH
• Barnimer Busgesellschaft mbH
• Cottbusverkehr GmbH
• Havelbus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH
• Regiobus Potsdam Mittelmark GmbH
• Stadtverkehrsgesellschaft mbH Frankfurt (Oder)
• DB Regio Bus Ost GmbH
• Brandenburg an der Havel transport company
• Oberhavel Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH
• Mobus Märkisch-Oderland Bus GmbH
• Traffic Management Elbe-Elster GmbH and Elster Nahverkehrsgesellschaft mbH

The negotiations in Berlin are about a new collective agreement. Among other things, Verdi wants to ensure that all employees receive 33 days of vacation without staggering. The union is also demanding 500 euros in holiday pay per year, an extended turning time of ten minutes on all routes, an increase in rest periods between two transport services to twelve hours, the granting of one day of holiday for every 100 hours of night work up to a maximum of six days and the reduction of unpaid breaks in transport services .

“The burden on employees and the staff shortage in public transport have increased more and more, the work pressure is getting greater and greater,” said von Verdi. “So solutions must be found quickly to bring about relief.”

When asked by rbb last Wednesday, the company did not want to say whether and how the BVG would respond to Verdi’s demands. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for February 15th.

These discussions are expressly not about higher wages or working hours per se for BVG employees.

In Brandenburg it is also about pay, i.e. higher wages and salaries. In Brandenburg, Verdi wants to get 20 percent, or at least 650 euros, more for local transport workers. The term of the collective agreement should be twelve months.

Since January 1, 2024, there is no longer any obligation to make peace in the collective bargaining dispute. At the beginning of December, Verdi initiated the collective bargaining round and presented demands in all 16 federal states.