Germany is preparing for a Black Monday. Employees across the entire transport sector in Germany are called to strike in an attempt to influence ongoing wage negotiations in a context of high inflation. Employees of airports, rail, maritime transport, motorway companies, local transport are called to “a full day off work”, the Ver.di and EVG unions said at a conference in press in Berlin. This unitary movement between the two unions is extremely rare in the first economy of the euro zone, where tariff negotiations are done branch by branch.
EVG represents 230,000 employees of railway companies, while Ver.di defends employees of public services. “We expect a large participation in the strikes,” Ver.di chairman Frank Werneke said. This call illustrates the increasingly tense social climate in the country, affected by high inflation which reached 8.7% in February. Many walkouts have taken place for several months, which affect different professional sectors in the public, from schools to hospitals.
Wage hikes demanded to compensate for inflation
The two unions are demanding large wage increases, respectively 10.5% for Ver.di and 12% for EVG, in order to compensate for inflation. Claims which have been refused during the negotiation sessions in recent weeks by the representatives of the employers, which mainly include the State and the municipalities.
The latter propose a 5% increase with two single payments of 1,000 and 1,500 euros, respectively in May 2023 and January 2024. The unions also complain of deteriorated working conditions, in a context of structural lack of labor in the country.
Tariff negotiations resume next week for the entire service branch. The airports of Bremen, Berlin, Hamburg and Hanover already had to cancel 351 flights on March 11, due to a 24-hour work stoppage by staff responsible for security checks.