After the warning strike is before the warning strike: Verdi has announced work stoppages in North Rhine-Westphalia, among other places, for Wednesday (April 26). Where businesses are affected.
Hamm – warning strikes and no end. A few days after an indefinite strike in the public sector was averted for the time being, people in Germany must once again expect restrictions due to work stoppages. The Verdi union is calling for a new warning strike for Wednesday (April 26) in part of the local transport system.
In the spring of North Rhine-Westphalia, hardly a day went by without a warning strike. However, the effects of the stoppage in public transport scheduled for April 26, 2023 are not as serious as they were in Dortmund, Essen, Münster, Bielefeld, the Rhine metropolises of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Duisburg as well as numerous rural districts.
Verdi with warning strike on April 26, 2023 in NRW: bus traffic affected
In NRW only the Oberbergische Verkehrsgesellschaft (OVAG) based in Gummersbach and the Hafen und Güterverkehr Köln AG (HGK) are affected by the strike. The employees should stop work from 3 a.m. on Wednesday night until 1 a.m. on Thursday night, i.e. for 22 hours. Verdi assumes that this can lead to impairments in bus traffic in the Oberberg district. Hafen und Güterverkehr Köln AG is a subsidiary of Stadtwerke Köln with a focus on rail freight transport and inland shipping.
Across Germany, a good 40 transport companies with around 5,000 employees, most of whom offer local public transport or freight transport by rail, are to be on strike. Verdi is planning actions in several federal states that have not yet been described further:
- Schleswig Holstein
- Lower Saxony
- North Rhine-Westphalia
- Bavaria
- Baden-Wuerttemberg
The warning strike by security personnel at Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn airports at the end of last week caused numerous flight cancellations.
Warning strike for buses in the Oberberg district as well as ports and freight traffic in Cologne
To shed some light on the confusion surrounding the strike and responsibilities: The approximately 40 companies in which the warning strike is now being called are not covered by the collective agreement for the public service of the federal government and the local authorities, in order to in day-care centers and administrations and in waste collection and for which an agreement has been in place since the weekend. The work stoppages announced on April 26 also have nothing to do with the current rail wage negotiations being conducted by the rail and transport trade union EVG.
A Verdi spokesman explained that the small railway collective agreement had grown historically. He has been terminated since April 1st. The union made its demands in February. In a first round of negotiations on April 17, the employers submitted a lower offer. The next round of negotiations will take place on April 28 in Fulda. The warning strike is now fitting.
The union is demanding an increase in wages and salaries of 550 euros per month for the employees over a period of twelve months. Trainee remuneration is to increase by 250 euros. Verdi is also demanding better working conditions in order to counteract the shortage of staff in the companies.