As of: January 30, 2024 10:31 p.m
Air travelers and commuters in northern Germany will have to prepare for considerable disruption again at the end of the week. Ver.di has called for warning strikes at airports on Thursday and on public transport on Friday.
The airports affected by the work stoppages by the aviation security forces are Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover as well as Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt, Frankfurt/Main and Stuttgart, the ver.di union announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The strike is scheduled to begin early Thursday morning and last until midnight. During this time, no employees, travelers or goods that need to go into the security area can be checked. This is likely to bring air traffic to a standstill in large parts of Germany. Hamburg Airport announced that all 126 scheduled departures on Thursday were canceled or would be carried out without passengers.
Demand for more money to retain and attract skilled workers
Among other things, the union is demanding more salaries for employees. So far there has been no agreement in three rounds of negotiations. Further discussions are planned for next week. Ver.di is negotiating nationwide with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) on behalf of around 25,000 industry employees. “Our goal is to sustainably compensate for the loss of purchasing power of employees,” explained ver.di negotiator Wolfgang Pieper. “The work of the aviation security forces must remain financially attractive so that the urgently needed skilled workers can be recruited and retained.”
Warning strikes also in local transport
Just one day later – on Friday – ver.di called for warning strikes on public transport. Ver.di deputy chairwoman Christine Behle announced on Monday that there would be strikes in all federal states except Bavaria. It is not yet entirely clear how long the actions should last in the individual federal states.
Public transport: ver.di demands better working conditions
Ver.di is currently negotiating a new collective agreement with public transport employers. This includes, among other things, higher salaries. “We urgently need an improvement for employees in local public transport,” said Andrea Wemheuer, head of the ver.di regional association for Lower Saxony-Bremen, on NDR Info on Tuesday. It’s about more vacation days and adjustments to shift allowances. “If we want a turnaround in transport, there is no way around good working conditions.” Otherwise you won’t find any people willing to do this job. But the employers are not willing to do this – worse still: “They wanted to cancel the sick pay subsidy from the 13th week.” This is a real attack on social benefits, said Wemheuer.
AUDIO: Ver.di on warning strikes: “More must be invested in public transport” (4 min)
Lower Saxony: Six municipal companies affected
In Lower Saxony, employees of the Braunschweiger Verkehrsgesellschaft, the Göttingen Verkehrsbetriebe, Osnabus and SWO-Mobil in Osnabrück, Stadtbus Goslar, Üstra Hannover and the Wolfsburger Verkehrsgesellschaft are to stop working. In Bremen it affects the employees of Bremer Straßenbahn AG.
According to a spokesman, the union is calling on a total of 4,500 workers in Lower Saxony to go on a warning strike, and around 2,400 in Bremen. A central rally is planned in Hanover on Friday.
Further information
Schleswig-Holstein: Warning strike in four cities
In Schleswig-Holstein, bus drivers want to go on strike from Friday to Sunday for better working conditions. Employees of the transport companies in Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg and Neumünster are called upon. These are brought together in the so-called local transport collective agreement (TVN). Private companies should also go on strike.
“What the employers have offered is close to a loss of reality and completely ignores the reality of the employees,” said ver.di negotiator Sascha Bähring. The North Omnibus Association (OVN) doesn’t even want to negotiate a 35-hour week, so the pressure on the streets needs to be increased.
Further information
Work stoppage also in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
This also applies to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the warning strikes are scheduled to begin on Friday at 3:30 a.m. and end on Saturday when work begins. According to the union, those affected are the Ludwigslust Parchim transport company, Nahbus Nordwestmecklenburg, the Rostock tram, the Rostock regional bus, the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania transport company, the Greifswald transport company and the Vorpommern-Greifswald transport company.
Further information
Hamburg: Hochbahn and VHH want to go on strike all day
After a round of negotiations with the Hamburger Hochbahn, the union also called on employees of the city’s transport company to go on an all-day warning strike on Tuesday afternoon. The Hochbahn operates bus and subway services in the Hanseatic city. The S-Bahn, which belongs to Deutsche Bahn, is not affected.
Ver.di had already announced on Monday that the more than 2,000 employees of the transport company VHH would stop working all day on Friday. Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein GmbH (VHH) is majority owned by the city. They mainly serve the outskirts of Hamburg and the Schleswig-Holstein area, but also run on some metrobus lines into the center of the Hanseatic city.
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130 companies with 90,000 employees affected
The labor disputes affect more than 130 municipal companies nationwide with a total of around 90,000 employees and thus bus, subway and tram traffic in 81 cities and 42 districts. Ver.di complained last week that the first rounds of collective bargaining in all 16 federal states had produced no results. However, solutions must be found quickly to relieve the burden on employees. Collective bargaining began in December. Since January 1st there is no longer any obligation to make peace.
According to ver.di, the collective agreements in the individual countries differ in many ways. Each tariff area has developed its own requirements. But in general it is about reducing weekly working hours with full wage compensation, shorter shifts, reducing unpaid travel times, extending rest periods, increasing vacation entitlement and additional days of relief.
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