Germany, paralyzed by strikes at airports, ports and railways

Germany woke up this Monday with airports, ports and railways paralyzed. In an unprecedented show of force, the service union Ver.di and the rail and transport union EVG joined forces and mobilized from midnight and 24 hours to 350,000 workers throughout the country to cause collapse in most passenger and goods traffics. The company Deutsche Bahn suspended all its intercity and regional trains throughout the country, but also suburban and city trains in a good part of the country.

To them should be added the complete suspension of suburban transport – buses, subways, trams and ferries – in seven federal states, including some of the most populated such as North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg or Bavaria. Stoppages that significantly increased traffic on the roads.

The vast majority of German airports are also paralyzed, including hubs Frankfurt and Munich, but not the one in Berlin, although its traffic will be reduced to a minimum by the loss of connections to the two major Lufthansa airline bases.

At the Munich airport, the strike started already on Sunday with the suspension of all regular flights. The suspension of work also applies to sea and river ports, where they stop personnel in charge of logistics and, among others, lock operators in the transport of strategic goods on rivers and canals.

Highway maintenance companies also participate in the strikes. “The willingness to strike is very high, and the anger of the workers, given the lack of offers from the employer, is huge,” said Kristian Loroch, a member of the negotiating committee of the EVG union, this morning.

During the day, more than 50 trade union acts were called throughout Germany. EVG is currently negotiating an agreement for employees of Deutsche Bahn and 50 other small railway companies operating in Germany. Demands for the next 12 months and in conditions of galloping inflation salary increase 12% or at least 650 euros more per month for each worker. This Monday, Ver.di starts the third round of negotiations for around 2.5 million public service employees and demands an increase 10.5% of salary or at least 500 euros monthly for those they represent.

Ver.di has been calling for special strikes across Germany for weeks to put pressure on local authorities and reach a new agreement with significant wage increases. Stoppages that affected the staff of kindergartens, municipal and community administrations, suburban public transport or garbage collection and city cleanliness, as well as ground and security staff at airports, where there have already been stoppages and suspensions of air traffic for the last month. Ver.di and EVG want to increase the pressure in the negotiation circles of their collective agreements with their coordinated mobilizations.

Price increase

“With the strike in the transport sector, we want to make it very clear to the employers once again that the workers support our demands,” he said. Frank Werneke, president of the powerful trade union Ver.di. Regarding the criticism that the strike burdens the negotiations, Werneke pointed out that “employees in public services, as well as the German middle class, consider the large increase in the prices of electricity, gas and electricity to be a great burden.” .

Martin Burkert, The president of the EVG accused Deutsche Bahn of not having submitted an acceptable offer to negotiate an agreement for railway staff.

“What they’ve put on the table so far is ridiculous,” said Burkert, who accused employers in the sector of raising “anti-social counterclaims” such as cutting vacation days. The head of Germany’s transport and rail union also warned that he did not rule out warning strikes “during the Easter holidays” and that such mobilizations depended on “the railway administration coming up with a decent offer once and for all”.

In light of the strikes, the German Federation of Municipalities and Associations (DStGB) warned of a financial overload of municipalities, many of whom cannot meet their employees’ salary claims due to lack of funds, and warned that new economic burdens will have a negative impact on citizens. “As everything becomes more expensive, many municipalities will be forced to increase, for example, the prices for garbage collection, entrance to public swimming pools or IBI,” said DStGB head Gerd Landsberg.