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STRIKES

Who’s affected by Thursday’s transport strikes in North Rhine-Westphalia?

Ahead of talks over pay and conditions for local transport workers, union Verdi has called on bus and train drivers in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia to stage a walkout on Thursday.

Published: 15 February 2024 13:38 CET
Strike banner in Kiel Schleswig-Holstein
A poster announcing a Verdi strike outside a bus station in Kiel, Schlewsig-Holstein. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Axel Heimken

The strike, which comes ahead of the second round of talks between Verdi and transport chiefs, will run all day and impact all major cities in North Rhine-Westphalia.

“The strike is on everywhere,” Peter Büddicker from the Verdi’s NRW branch told Tagesschau on Thursday. 

However, transport services should be back to normal by Friday. 

What services are affected?

The vast majority of local transport companies in NRW will be hit by the all-day strike action on Thursday, with cities like Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Cologne, Bonn, Bielefeld, Essen, Wuppertal and Münster all affected.

In Bonn, for example, the SWB, SWBD and SWBV will see severe disruption, along with the DSA in Dortmund, the Rheinbahn AG in Düsseldorf and the Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe Aktiengesellschaft (KVBA) in Cologne. 

READ ALSO: Why Germany is being hit by strikes almost every day

A number of smaller cities and towns across the state will also see their transport services come to a halt, including Hamm, Solingen, Bochum, Krefeld and Leverkusen.

Buses, trams and underground services will all be impacted. 

A full list of the transport companies affected by the strike can be found here on the Tagesschau website, and regular updates and information on alternative routes will be provided on operators’ apps and websites throughout the day. 

What services aren’t affected?

Since regional and S-Bahn services are run by Deutsche Bahn rather than local transport operators, this latest round of strike action won’t affect RE, RB and S-Bahn rail services. Intercity rail services like ICE, IC and EC trains are also excluded.

A handful of transport companies in NRW are also excluded from the walkouts, including ASEAG in Aachen, RVK in Cologne, RSVG in Troisdorf, OVAG in Gummersbach and Munster’s WVG Group. 

That means that in cities like Munster a partial service will be running, with the Stadtwerke Münster out of operation while WVG runs. The situation is similar in Cologne, where KVBA workers are on strike but RVK workers aren’t. 

What impact are the strikes having? 

According to estimates by the Association of German Transport Companies, local transport companies in NRW transport an average of around five million passengers per day.

Since these are usually return journeys, it’s likely that around 2.5 million people travel daily on public transport in the region, many of whom were likely affected by Thursday’s industrial action.

In some cases, employees are given permission to work from home on strike days. However, compulsory school attendance remains in place for children.

Verdi is currently in the process on negotiating a new collective agreement for employees in local transport companies. Friday will see the second round of talks following the opening of negotiations in January.

READ ALSO: Where are the next public transport strikes taking place in Germany?

Among other things, the services union is pushing for better pay and more days off for workers. 

Strikes are also due to be held in Lower Saxony on Monday and Tuesday. 

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The EU's new Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport controls is due to come into force later this year, but among many questions that remain is the situation for non-EU nationals who live in the EU or Schengen zone.

Published: 27 April 2024 07:59 CEST
Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

Currently scheduled to start in autumn 2024 (unless it’s delayed again, which is not unlikely) the EU’s new Entry & Exit System is basically an enhanced passport check at external EU borders, including a facial scan and fingerprinting.

You can find a full explanation of the new system HERE.

Travellers crossing an external EU or Schengen border for the first time will be required to complete EES ‘pre-registration’ formalities including that facial scan and fingerprinting.

There are, however, several groups exempt from EES and one of them is non-EU nationals who have a residency permit or long-stay visa for an EU country.

So if you’re a foreigner living in the EU or Schengen zone, here’s what you need to know.

Exempt

One of the stated aims of EES is to tighten up enforcement of over-staying – IE, people who stay longer than 90 days in every 180 without a visa, or those who overstay the limits of their visa.

Obviously these limits do not apply to non-EU nationals who are resident in the EU or Schengen zone, which is why this group is exempt from EES checks. They will instead be required to show their passport and residency permit/visa when crossing a border, just as they do now.

In its explanations of how EES will work, the European Commission is clear – exempt groups include non-EU residents of the Bloc.

A Commission spokesman told The Local: “Non-EU citizens residing in the EU are not in the scope of the EES and will not be subject to pre-enrollment of data in the EES via self-service systems. The use of automation remains under the responsibility of the Member States and its availability in border crossing points is not mandatory.

“When crossing the borders, holders of EU residence permits should be able to present to the border authorities their valid travel documents and residence permits.”

How this will work

How this will work on the ground, however, is a lot less clear.

Most ports/airports/terminals have two passport queues – EU and non-EU. It remains unclear whether the non-EU queue will have a separate section for those who are exempt from EES.

It does seem clear that exempt groups will not be able to use the automated passport scanners – since those cannot scan additional documents like residency permits – but should instead use manned passport booths. However it is not clear whether these will be available at all airports/ports/terminals or how non-EU residents of the EU will be directed to those services.

There’s also the issue that individual border guards are not always clear on the processes and rules for non-EU residents of the EU – even under the current system it’s relatively commonly for EU residents to have their passports incorrectly stamped or be given incorrect information about passport stamping by border guards.

Brits in particular will remember the immediate post-Brexit period when the processes as described by the EU and national authorities frequently did not match what was happening on the ground.

The Local will continue to try and get answers on these questions. 

READ ALSO What will EES mean for dual nationals

What if I live in the EU but I don’t have a visa/residency permit?

For most non-EU citizens, having either a visa or a residency permit is obligatory in order to be legally resident.

However, there is one exception: UK citizens who were legally resident in the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period and who live in one of the “declaratory” countries where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory. Declaratory countries include Germany and Italy.

Although it is legal for people in this situation to live in those countries without a residency permit, authorities already advise people to get one in order to avoid confusion/hassle/delays at the border. Although EES does not change any rules relating to residency or travel, it seems likely that it will be more hassle to travel without a residency card than it is now.

Our advice? Things are going to be chaotic enough, getting a residency permit seems likely to save you a considerable amount of hassle.

Delays 

Although residents of the EU do not need to complete EES formalities, they will be affected if the new system causes long queues or delays at the border.

Several countries have expressed worries about this, with the UK-France border a particular cause for concern.

READ ALSO Travellers could face ’14 hours queues’ at UK-France border

Where does it apply?

EES is about external EU/Schengen borders, so does not apply if you are travelling within the Schengen zone – eg taking the train from France to Germany or flying from Spain to Sweden.

Ireland and Cyprus, despite being in the EU, are not in the Schengen zone so will not be using EES, they will continue to stamp passports manually.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland – countries that are in the Schengen zone but not in the EU – will be using EES.

The full list of countries using EES is: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Therefore a journey between any of the countries listed above will not be covered by EES.

However a journey in or out of any of those countries from a country not listed above will be covered by EES.

You can find our full Q&A on EES HERE.

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