On January 23, both sides halted the third round of negotiations due to the inability to come to a compromise. The unions have given Vattenfall an ultimatum, saying that the energy company has until February 4 to come up with a “clearly improved” offer, or it will face prolonged strikes.
Vattenfall Europe is the German subsidiary of the Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall. In total, Vattenfall has around 21,000 employees. In Berlin, 4,150 people are employed by Vattenfall, 4,000 of whom are from the former Berlin utility company, Bewag, and 150 of which are from Vatenfall Europe.