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STRIKES

Full day strike set for Berlin public transport system

Berlin’s public transport system will come to a halt on Monday as employees plan to strike for the whole day.

Published: 29 March 2019 09:09 CET
Full day strike set for Berlin public transport system
Public transport in Berlin will likely come to a standstill on Monday. Photo: DPA

Passengers who use buses, underground trains (U-Bahn) and trams will be affected in the third – and toughest yet  – so-called ‘warning strike’ by 'Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe' (BVG) staff who are also union members.

The Verdi trade union called on its members to down their tools and walk out as part of the action which is due to start in the early morning of April 1st and last the whole day.

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

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

The S-Bahn lines are not directly affected because these trains belong to the operator Deutsche Bahn. Regional trains are also not operated by BVG, so passengers can switch to these means of transport.

S-Bahn services and regional trains are, however, expected to be over-crowded as people flock to them during the strike.

SEE ALSO: Passengers face disruption as bus drivers in Berlin set to strike

During the 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. Further action took place on March 14th as bus drivers in the capital went on strike.

During Monday's planned strike it is likely that bus services to Tegel Airport in the north of the city will not be in operation. In the last two strikes, Berlin Airport Services confirmed they would provide a shuttle bus from Jakob-Kaiser-Platz U-Bahn station.

There were also some services that continued during the last strikes because they are run by contractors of BVG. The bus lines which remained in operation during previous actions were: 106, 161, 162, 163, 168, 175, 179, 218, 234, 263, 275, 284, 320, 322, 334, 341, 349, 363, 365, 371, 373, 380, 390 and 399.

More information will likely become available on Monday morning.

Verdi rejected latest offer

The action is taking place as negotiations over pay and conditions for around 14,600 employees of BVG and its subsidiary Berlin Transport (BT) continue.

Verdi rejected the latest offer from the employers on Thursday.

“An agreement in the collective bargaining conflict was not possible due to the offer submitted by the employer,” said Jeremy Arndt, Verdi negotiator. “Unfortunately, not all workers are benefiting from the increases the employers proposed.”

Among other things, Verdi wants to implement a 36.5-hour working week with full wage compensation. At present, almost half of the employees hired since 2005 have to work 39 hours.

The strikes have been described by those representing the employers as “completely inappropriate”.

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: Public service strikes continue as Potsdam talks fail

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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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