“This marks an uncommon occurrence: Nationwide traffic halt scheduled for March 27th”

Nationwide traffic strike on March 27: “This is an unusual thing”

Berlin. Commuters and travelers have to be prepared for massive restrictions on all means of transport for March 27th. The railway union EVG and the service union Verdi want to go on strike together. All means of transport would be affected by the joint strike, the effects could be much more noticeable than in the last round of strikes by the Union of German Train Drivers (GDL) two years ago. Rail, local transport, airports and the federally owned Autobahn GmbH could be struck at the same time.

Trade union circles confirmed corresponding media reports to the editorial network Germany (RND). “If we do that, we will announce strikes in good time,” EVG Vice Cosima Ingenschay told “Bild am Sonntag”. This Thursday, Verdi and EVG are going public together – topic: “the respective current collective bargaining”, as they announced. On the same day, the first round of negotiations in the railway sector between the EVG and the railway companies ends.

“This is an unusual thing,” said tariff expert Thorsten Schulten of the German Press Agency. If two unions find that they are negotiating in parallel in similar areas, a joint approach is obvious. A large warning strike at the start of a round of negotiations signals to the employers: “We are serious, and the employees are behind us.” Böckler Foundation says. After all, there is no common planning authority for different trade unions.

Strike starting March 27, 12:01 a.m

The strike is scheduled to begin early Monday, March 27th. The labor dispute has to be interrupted in the afternoon: Then Verdi and the employer meet for the third round of negotiations in Potsdam. Negotiations are scheduled to continue until March 29th.

Public transport on a large scale. In the area of ​​electronic ballasts, long-distance rail transport is affected. And Verdi can strike local public transport in several countries – but not only. At the beginning of March, the union had largely paralyzed local public transport in six federal states and some cities – back then in close cooperation with the climate activists from Fridays for Future. But because municipal employees at airports were also out, tens of thousands of air passengers were also affected on several days. And on Wednesday, the port of Hamburg was also closed to large ships due to a strike.

What is Verdi demanding in the collective bargaining dispute?

In the current collective bargaining round, Verdi is demanding 10.5 percent more salary for federal and municipal employees, but at least 500 euros more per month for a period of twelve months. The municipal employers had previously submitted an offer that provided for a table-effective increase of 3 percent at the end of 2023 and 2 percent in mid-2024 over a period of 27 months. There is also an inflation compensation premium in two installments of 1500 and 1000 euros.

What are the railroad workers asking for?

The EVG will conclude its first round of negotiations with the railway companies on March 23. The union did not officially confirm the date of the strike. The union began negotiations with Deutsche Bahn and around 50 other railway companies at the end of February. The union had rejected a first offer from the state-owned company last week. She demands at least 650 euros more wages. In the case of higher wages, she is aiming for an increase of twelve percent with a term of the collective agreement of twelve months. Among other things, Deutsche Bahn had offered to raise the wages of the approximately 180,000 employees affected by a total of 5 percent in two steps and promised one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros.

Why aren’t the GDL train drivers on strike this time?

Rail strike veteran Claus Weselsky and his union of German train drivers (GdL) are not part of this warning strike. In September 2021, after several rounds of strikes, GDL concluded a collective agreement with DB that provides for a wage increase of 3.3 percent and two corona bonuses. This contract is valid until October 2023. At DB, an EVG strike is feared to have far greater effects than the GDL strikes in 2021. The EVG is not only larger, but has also organized more strategically important professional groups. Striking dispatchers, for example, could completely paralyze an entire railway junction.

First round of negotiations interrupted after just two hours

The first round of negotiations between DB and EVG was interrupted after just two hours at the beginning of March. The EVG did not want to negotiate further without an offer from the employer. For the round on Tuesday, DB has now promised an offer. The union has called for a demonstration in Berlin on Tuesday morning.

Verdi boss Frank Werneke seems to see his union inspired by the many actions of the past few weeks – daycare centers, clinics and many other areas were also affected. “Spring is approaching, and it may be that we have to meet again here,” he said in Cologne, for example, at one of many rallies. He had previously speculated about a possible failure.

dbb boss Ulrich Silberbach said on Wednesday at a rally in Berlin: “Above all, the complete refusal of the municipalities to even consider a minimum amount stands in the way of any approximation.” As the tariff expert Schulten explains, the peace obligation is already involved ended when the previous collective agreement expired. Legally, nothing stands in the way of warning strikes, even during the negotiations.

The EVG has recently repeatedly emphasized its willingness to go on warning strikes as a “last resort”. However, the trade union said that the risk of widespread work stoppages in rail transport was the responsibility of Deutsche Bahn. The railway would “simply ignore agreements made,” said EVG negotiator Kristian Loroch. “That is extremely unprofessional.” EVG collective bargaining board member Cosima Ingenschay criticized the lack of discipline at Deutsche Bahn with a view to the tight schedule of the negotiations. “That seems to be the employer’s tactic. He accepts that the railroads are going on strike and believes he can blame us for it, saying he can now call us back to the negotiating table.”

Sufficient strike timetables are required for each train

The Pro Bahn passenger association is demanding strike timetables from the RND so that commuters can continue to reach their destinations. “We need at least one basic offer for people who don’t have a car or are physically handicapped,” said federal chairman Detlef Neuß. With a view to shorter distances, this also applies to people who can no longer ride a bicycle. “We don’t need a 10-minute cycle,” Neuss said of the demands for a strike schedule. But especially in the rush hour there should be an offer at least every hour or every half hour.

In the public service, high inflation, difficult recruitment, but also the tense budgetary situation of many municipalities come together – tariff expert Schulten says: “It is a very acute distribution conflict”. He recalls the process at the post office: Here, the Verdi members had already voted in favor of an indefinite strike. But then another round of negotiations quickly followed – and an agreement was reached. Something like this is also conceivable in the public service. If there is no agreement in Potsdam next week, an attempt at arbitration would probably be made first, says Schulten.

with dpa material