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STRIKES

Passengers face disruption as bus drivers in Berlin set to strike

Public transport users in Berlin will face huge disruption Thursday as bus drivers go on strike in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Published: 13 March 2019 10:52 CET
Updated: 14 March 2019 08:06 CET
Passengers face disruption as bus drivers in Berlin set to strike
Archive photo shows a BVG bus travelling to Tegel Airport in Berlin. Photo: DPA

The powerful trade union Verdi called for bus drivers at Berlin’s public transport operator, the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), to down their tools and walk out as part of a so-called ‘warning strike’.

It is due to come after a day of chaos for passengers last month when BVG employees went on strike, halting most buses, trams and U-Bahn trains.

SEE ALSO: IN PICTURES: Berlin public transport strike ends but more disruption expected

Bus drivers, and associated workers such as mechanics, are poised to stop working from 3.30 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Thursday (March 14th), Verdi announced on Tuesday evening.

The operation of the Berlin U-Bahn (subway) and tram is not directly affected in this action, although services may be busier than usual. The S-Bahn lines are also not affected because these trains belong to the operator Deutsche Bahn. Regional trains are not operated by BVG either.

The union is staging the action during negotiations over pay and conditions. 

“The goal is to use this warning strike to increase the pressure on employers in the current negotiations,” Verdi negotiator Jeremy Arndt said.

Transport bosses warned there would be a lot of disruption.

“Unfortunately, our passengers will have to adjust to considerable restrictions in local transport,” the BVG said in a statement.

The BVG believe the bus network will be at a standstill for the strike and will remain irregular for a few hours after the end of the industrial action. Normal traffic is not expected to resume until Friday.

BVG is the largest municipal transport company in Germany and, with more than 2.9 million customer trips per day, it's the backbone of Berlin's local public transport system.

SEE ALSO: Public service strikes continue as Potsdam talks fail

What you need to know

On the outskirts of the capital, subcontractors are often on the road on behalf of BVG. This means that these services will be running — just like the last strike, reported the Tagesspiegel.

The following subcontracted bus lines are expected to be fully operational during the warning strike: 106, 161, 162, 163, 168, 175, 179, 218, 234, 263, 275, 284, 320, 322, 334, 341, 349, 363, 365, 371, 373, 380, 390, 399.

The following lines are slightly restricted: 112, 140, 184, 283, 370 and 893.

It’s also important to note that the bus services which run to Tegel Airport in the north of the city will not be in operation. However, Berlin Airport Services confirmed they would provide a shuttle bus from Jakob-Kaiser Platz-U-Bahn station.

The bus line from Rudow U-Bahn station to Schönefeld Airport will also not be in operation, but the S-Bahn and regional trains will continue to run to Schönefeld.

Why are workers striking?

Among other things, Verdi wants to implement a 36.5-hour working week with full wage compensation for the approximately 14,000 employees of BVG and its subsidiary Berlin Transport. Today, almost half of the employees have to work 39 hours — these are workers who have been hired since 2005. 

Negotiations have failed so far despite offers by BVG to the trade union.

The latest strike comes during a wave of industrial action sparked by separate disputes that's resulted in office and school closures around the country as well as flights being grounded. 

SEE ALSO: Strikes shut down schools and offices

During the last BVG strike which took place on Friday, February 15th, the majority of U-Bahn, tram and bus services were halted from early morning until 12noon. Traffic slowly resumed to normal afterwards.

Many people got on their bikes and travelled to work that way. Luckily they had good weather conditions, with blazing sunshine. On Thursday a few rain showers are expected but with reasonable temperatures of around 8C.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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