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STRIKES

Truckers in Germany end ‘unprecedented’ strike

Truck drivers who transport goods around Europe ended a weeks-long work stoppage in Germany including a hunger strike after reaching a pay deal at the weekend, labour representatives said.

Published: 1 October 2023 14:26 CEST
Truckers in Germany end 'unprecedented' strike
A truck driver looks from a parked truck outside Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on September 22, 2023. Photo: Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP.

Edwin Atema, head of the Road Transport Due Diligence Foundation, which monitors and addresses violations of work standards in Europe, said Saturday that the striking truckers had seen their demands met.

“All claims and charges against the Graefenhausen drivers are withdrawn, money has been paid and the strike is over,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to the location in western Germany where some 80 drivers had set up a protest encampment.

Atema, who led the negotiations on the labour side, said the drivers had been previously “invisible” in European road transport supply chains but achieved “fundamental changes” with their industrial action.

“Not invisible anymore, but invincible,” he said.

The truckers — mostly from Uzbekistan and Georgia, with a handful also from Tajikistan, Ukraine and Turkey — work for several Polish trucking companies owned by the Mazur Group.

They said they were not being regularly paid their salaries — at a daily rate of about 80 euros ($85) — and were charged hefty amounts to even take the jobs in the first place while having to work extremely long hours.

Believing their Polish employers would not respond to their growing desperation amid the 10-week strike, some of the drivers stopped eating last month.

They were demanding a total of 500,000 euros in what they said were unpaid wages. Details of the pay agreement were not made public.

The Mazur Group insisted last month that all salaries were paid “in a timely manner” and had undergone a recent inspection which found no
irregularities in payments.

The drivers transport a range of goods for major European companies, working in countries including Germany, France, Italy, Austria, the
Netherlands and Switzerland.

German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil welcomed the deal, expressing his “big thanks and respect” to Atema on X.

Atema, who is also a Dutch union official, had said the truckers chose to stage their strike in Germany, rather than Poland, as they felt safer taking action there.

He called the truckers’ action “unprecedented” in the European road transport industry.

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SCHOOLS

Teachers in Berlin urged to strike on Wednesday

Germany's classrooms are overcrowded amid a shortage of teachers across the country. A Berlin union has called for a walkout on Wednesday, after officials failed to respond to requests to negotiate on the topic.

Published: 21 May 2024 11:57 CEST
Teachers in Berlin urged to strike on Wednesday

The Education and Science Union (GEW) is calling for a teachers’ strike in Berlin on Wednesday, May 22nd.

The strike comes as the latest in a long series of teachers’ strikes in response to class sizes that have grown too large. As in years past, opponents to the strike have voiced concern that it may disrupt Arbitur examinations at some schools. Classes are canceled at some affected schools.

Speaking to Tagesspiegel on Monday, state student spokesman Aimo Görne called the strike “a disappointment”, and suggested that he had hoped a strike might come outside of the examination period this year. 

The GEW, however, suggests that the need for disruptive action is clear. 

What is the strike for smaller classes about?

GEW Berlin wants to achieve smaller class sizes in state schools.

Anne Albers, chief negotiator of GEW Berlin said in a statement published on the group’s website: “[Education workers] in the schools suffer every day with poor working conditions. Currently, more than 3,500 Berlin school classes are overcrowded, even by the standards of the Senate Administration.”

She added that the GEW’s demands can be met with “good political planning”.

Wednesday’s strike was announced one month prior, after Berlin’s Finance Senator did not respond to a renewed request for negotiations on the topic of classroom sizes.

Germany has suffered a growing shortage of teachers and school staff in recent years – an issue that is exacerbated by poor working conditions for teachers in overcrowded classrooms, as well as relatively low compensation.

Research by Robert Bosch Stiftung found that two-thirds of Germany’s part-time teachers would be willing to work more if their work would be fully compensated. Often teachers are only fully compensated for teaching hours, while necessary work done outside of the classroom (such as training, meetings and communication with parents) is under-estimated and underpaid.

READ ALSO: German part-time teachers ‘prepared to increase hours’ to combat staff shortages

The GEW’s strike on Wednesday also concerns other social workers in public schools. Along with reducing classroom sizes, the GEW demands that a ratio of school psychologists to students be set.

Is solidarity for striking teachers falling?

There have been 17 strike days for smaller classes in Berlin since 2021 – the latest strike lasted for three days in October of 2023.

While relevant agencies, along with parents and other school staff, were initially largely supportive of striking teachers, it seems that some are growing tired of the ongoing walkouts.

Guido Richter, co-chairman of the Berlin Primary School Principals’ Association, told Tagesspiegel that the GEW’s goal was “correct in perspective, but illusory at the moment”. He added that schools where teachers strike end up losing lessons. 

It’s hard to imagine how classroom sizes can realistically be reduced in the short term as the shortage of teachers has only grown more severe in recent years. But the GEW has published a 15-point plan on the topic, which it believes could help reduce Germany’s teacher shortage.

The plan’s points include: increasing compensation for teachers and pay raises for trainees, recognising foreign teachers’ qualifications, more IT and administrative support, and expanding the number of teacher training courses, among others.

But while the fact that Germany’s classrooms are overcrowded is largely agreed, whether or not striking helps is not.

Even among GEW members, it seems the tactic of warning strikes is somewhat controversial. In the last round of strikes, only one in 10 salaried teachers reportedly walked out.

READ ALSO: School drop-outs rise across Germany as resources and teachers spread thin

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