The nationwide public transport warning strike announced for Monday will have an impact in large parts of Bavaria. The Verdi union in the Free State is calling for workers in local transport, airports and motorways to walk out all day, as it announced on Thursday. Rail traffic is also affected, with the railway and transport union (EVG) calling for nationwide warning strikes.
The warning strike is to hit Munich and Nuremberg airports. In the state capital, employees even stop working on Sundays and Mondays. The airport expects massive restrictions. It was initially unclear whether regular flight operations would be discontinued.
There had already been warning strikes at Munich Airport and in the trade union district of Rosenheim on Thursday. In the districts of Altötting, Mühldorf, Traunstein, Berchtesgadener Land, Rosenheim and Miesbach, employees were called to walk out. Among other things, waste management, street cleaning, hospitals, some daycare centers and administrations were affected, as were clinics of the German pension insurance in the Miesbach district and in Bad Aibling.
With the actions, Verdi is increasing the pressure for the third round of negotiations with the federal and local governments, which begins on Monday. Together with the civil servants’ association dbb, the union for the public sector is demanding 10.5 percent and at least 500 euros more wages. In the second round of negotiations at the end of February, the employers submitted an offer that was not enough for the union. Among other things, it includes a pay increase of five percent in two steps and one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros. At the end of February, EVG began negotiations with Deutsche Bahn and around 50 other railway companies.
The union had rejected an initial offer from Deutsche Bahn last week. She demands at least 650 euros more wages. In the case of higher wages, she is aiming for an increase of twelve percent with a term of the collective agreement of twelve months. Among other things, Deutsche Bahn had offered to raise the wages of the approximately 180,000 employees affected by a total of five percent in two steps and several one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros.
The Bavarian Business Association (vbw) called for an end to the labor dispute after the renewed strike announcement. The actions of the Verdi and EVG unions are disproportionate and irresponsible. Warning strikes would be short-term and limited work stoppages, which can no longer be said about the announced all-day warning strikes, criticized vbw general manager Bertram Brossardt on Thursday in Munich. “If a few people repeatedly and on a large scale paralyze central parts of the infrastructure, this will result in considerable economic damage.” Such ongoing impairments are no longer acceptable. “The strikes are formally directed against the collective bargaining partner, but in fact against the people in our country,” said Brossardt. The unions must finally seek a solution at the negotiating table.