Warning strike in North Rhine-Westphalia: bus and train cancellations in public transport

The Verdi union again called for a two-day warning strike on Tuesday and Wednesday. In North Rhine-Westphalia, employees in around 30 municipal transport companies are to take part. Buses and trains will not run here.

Today and tomorrow, public transport passengers will again have to expect significant restrictions on trams, subways and buses.

As the Verdi union announced on Friday, around 30 municipal transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia would take part in the warning strike. A major exception is the Aachen transport company ASEAG, which has an in-house collective agreement. A central strike event is also planned for Dortmund’s Friedensplatz on Wednesday, in which strikers from all parts of North Rhine-Westphalia will take part.

These are the companies that Verdi has again called on strike:

Impact on car traffic

The warning strike also affects car traffic. According to the WDR traffic studio, the streets in the city centers and the access roads in particular are very full. And according to ADAC, the warning strike is also reflected on the motorways – through numerous traffic jams.

At its peak, there were around 380 kilometers of traffic jams and stalled traffic on the highways in North Rhine-Westphalia, said a spokesman for the ADAC North Rhine-Westphalia. That is significantly more than at the beginning of the two-day warning strike last Thursday, when a total of up to 200 kilometers of traffic jams and stalled traffic were measured.

Verdi: Want to produce a lot of pressure

The background for the new strike is the collective bargaining over the working conditions of around 30,000 employees in the municipal transport companies. So far, two rounds of negotiations on the general collective agreement have remained unsuccessful. According to Verdi, the positions are far apart.

“We want to create so much pressure that they understand that we can do even harder, and we should solve it at the negotiating table,” said Verdi negotiator Heinz Rech in the direction of the employers. And department head Andrea Becker says when asked about the support of the population: “We get it, there is understanding, and of course it’s annoying.” When calling for better working conditions, she also referred to, among other things, high levels of sickness, a lack of skilled workers and investments.

The collective bargaining negotiations in North Rhine-Westphalia are to continue in the third round on March 11th and 12th in Dortmund. Verdi is calling for, among other things, additional days off and certain shift and alternating shift allowances in order to relieve the burden on employees and make the professions more attractive.

Employers’ Association refers to financial flexibility

In the collective bargaining dispute at the state level, the employers’ association KAV NRW recently pointed out that the financial leeway was narrow. In addition, salaries increased significantly as of March 1st, as agreed a long time ago. Given the shortage of drivers, additional days off would mean that the remaining drivers would be put under more strain.

Verdi and Fridays for Future protested together

In the collective bargaining dispute, there have so far been two one-day warning strikes at the beginning and middle of February and a two-day warning strike in around 30 municipal transport companies. This week Verdi launched a wave of warning strikes in local transport almost nationwide. On Friday, Verdi and the climate movement Fridays for Future went on strike together in many places.

Our sources: