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STRIKES

Thousands of families affected as Berlin Kitas set for strike

Nursery teachers are set to walk out on Tuesday, after a strike was called by the German Education Union (GEW) over a pay dispute. It came as negotiations started for employees of Berlin public transport operator BVG, which could also result in industrial action.

Thousands of families affected as Berlin Kitas set for strike
File photo shows children's shoes in a Berlin Kita. Photo: DPA

Parents in Berlin are being urged to contact the management of their children's Kita on Monday to find out whether they are affected and, if so, whether emergency care relief is being offered.

The B.Z. reported that there are around 276 state-owned Kitas in Berlin which look after about 34,000 children. There are an estimated 13,000 nursery teachers in the capital.

Some Kitas will remain closed during Tuesday’s half day so-called  'warning strike', while others will offer emergency care.

“Although the situation is difficult for the parents, the solidarity is very high,” said Doreen Siebernik, chairman of the GEW union in Berlin.

GEW called for the strike after the first round of pay negotiations last Monday.

SEE ALSO: How a childcare crisis is leaving Berlin parents stuck at home with their kids

The B.Z. said that nursery school teachers in Berlin earn significantly less than in other federal states. This issue is being examined in the collective agreement of states (TdL).

The union said Kita teachers are striking now because they “don’t want to be forgotten” in the country-wide bargaining round.

The finance senator needs to know that nursery school teachers “want to finally earn more,” said Siebernik. 

The union is demanding pay increases of six percent for educators, or at least €200 extra per month, reported the Berliner Morgenpost. The trade unions also want to make the profession more attractive by upgrading the salary.

Rally at 9am Tuesday

The nursery teachers’ so-called 'warning strike' on Tuesday is limited to a half day. The strike will start with a rally at 9 am at Dorothea-Schlegel-Platz at Friedrichstraße station in Berlin’s Mitte. 

Siebernik also invited parents to the rally. “Because one thing is clear: only with a better salary will the city be able to recruit sufficiently well qualified nursery teachers,” she added.

The strikers will receive support from cross-party politicians on Tuesday. Both Raed Saleh, chairman of the Berlin SPD faction, and Katrin Seidel, deputy chairman of the Left faction, want to speak at the rally. The Greens will also support the industrial action.

SEE ALSO: Free for all? How Germany plans to tackle its childcare problem

Berlin's Finance Senator Matthias Kollatz (SPD) will lead the negotiations with the union.

In Berlin, a total of 140,000 people are directly affected by the collective bargaining. In addition to nursery teachers, these include nurses, school teachers and doctors. The next round of collective bargaining will take place on February 6th and 7th in Potsdam.

Public transport users could be hit

Meanwhile, Berlin's public transport system (BVG) could also come to a standstill. On Monday, negotiations were due to begin on the collective agreement for some 14,500 BVG employees. The main focus there is on better working conditions. Later, wage increases will also be negotiated. 

However, BVG customers don't have to deal with this scenario right away. “We're not threatening strikes before negotiations begin,” Verdi negotiator Jeremy Arndt told the Berliner Morgenpost on Sunday.

However, possible future action by the union will depend on the reactions of employers. Among other things, Verdi demands a reduction of the weekly working hours for all BVG employees from 39 to 36.5 hours with full wage compensation as well as improvements to the Christmas bonus.

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STRIKES

Hundreds of thousands take to streets against Macron’s pension plan

Demonstrators in France took to the streets Saturday for a seventh day of protest against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plans, with police expecting up to a million people at rallies nationwide.

Hundreds of thousands take to streets against Macron's pension plan

Unions hope they can still force Macron to back down as parliament debates the draft law, with the National Assembly and the Senate moving towards a final vote as early as this month.

“This is the final stretch,” said Marylise Leon, deputy leader of the CFDT union. “The endgame is now,” she told the franceinfo broadcaster Saturday.

This week, Macron twice turned down urgent calls by unions to meet with him in a last-ditch attempt to get him to change his mind.

“When there are millions of people in the streets, when there are strikes and all we get from the other side is silence, people wonder: What more do we need to do to be heard?”, said Philippe Martinez, boss of the hard-left CGT
union.

“This country’s leaders need to stop being in denial of this social movement,” said CFDT head Laurent Berger on Saturday.

Police said they expect between 800,000 and one million people at 230 planned demonstrations across France, of which up to 100,000 were likely to march in Paris.

It was the second protest day called on a weekend, with unions hoping that demonstrators would show up in greater numbers if they did not have to take a day off work.

“I’m here to fight for my colleagues and for our young people,” said Claude Jeanvoine, 63, a retired train driver demonstrating in Strasbourg, eastern France. “People shouldn’t let the government get away with this, this is about the future of their children and grandchildren,” he told AFP.

READ ALSO: 5 minutes to understand … French pension reform 

At the last big strike and protest day on Tuesday, turnout was just under 1.3 million people, according to police, and more than three million according to unions.

Several sectors in the French economy have been targeted by union calls for indefinite strikes, including in rail and air transport, power stations, natural gas terminals and rubbish collection.

The French Senate, meanwhile, early Saturday resumed debate on the reform whose headline measure is a hike in the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62.

Senators have until Sunday evening to conclude their discussions, and a commission is then to elaborate a final version of the draft law which will be submitted to both houses of parliament for a final vote.

Should Macron’s government fail to assemble a majority ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne could deploy a rarely-used constitutional tool, known as article 49/3, to push the legislation through without a vote.

An opinion poll published by broadcaster BFMTV Saturday found that 63 percent of French people approve the protests against the reform, and 54 percent were also in favour of the strikes and blockages in some sectors.

Some 78 percent, however, said they believed that Macron would end up getting the reform adopted.

READ ALSO: LATEST: How strikes will affect France this weekend

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