;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=531cff29352343f26fee66c8aec86803122a315bc1b6c168b486bbbe6c7ae34a "Verdi Calls for Warning Strike in Saxon Wholesale as Demand for Higher Wages Grows.")
Demand for more wages – Verdi calls for a warning strike in wholesale
Thursday, 06/08/2023, 09:17: The Verdi union called for a warning strike in the Saxon wholesale trade on Thursday. Employees in the Edeka central warehouse in Berbersdorf in the Mittelsachsen district and in the Phoenix pharmaceutical trade in Leipzig are to stop working, as the union announced on Thursday in Leipzig. “The dramatic price increases in food, energy costs, rents and mobility costs on the one hand and the delaying tactics of employers in collective bargaining on the other are driving people onto the streets,” said chief negotiator Sylke Hustan.
According to Hustan, the majority of those employed in trade are at acute risk of poverty. In addition to a wage increase, Verdi is also demanding an inflation compensation bonus for employees in Saxon wholesale and foreign trade.
Schools are closed in Berlin, trade in NRW
Wednesday, 06/07/2023, 09:05:
Berlin strike news:
For many Berlin students, classes were canceled on Tuesday. Normal everyday school life in numerous Berlin schools should also come to a standstill on Wednesday and Thursday. The reason for this is a warning strike by the Education and Science Union (GEW).
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The GEW called for this about two weeks ago. She wants to emphasize her demand for smaller classes. According to the union, the class size at general and vocational schools should be laid down in a collective agreement for health protection. The issue has been in the air since June 2021, and since then the GEW has repeatedly called for warning strikes.
According to a spokesman for the Berlin education administration, around 2,300 teachers took part in the strike on Tuesday – there are around 34,000 in total in Berlin. Many of them are employees and are therefore allowed to go on strike, unlike teachers with civil servants. Despite the warning strike, classes have taken place regularly in many places, the spokesman said. A central examination of the Abitur, a follow-up appointment in biology, could be carried out as planned.
The Berlin Senate sees no way of implementing the demand for smaller classes. The reason for this is, among other things, an acute shortage of teachers and also the fact that Berlin cannot begin collective bargaining without the consent of the collective bargaining community of German states (TdL). The TdL, to which all German federal states except Hesse belong, rejects possible negotiations.
“The Senate says it doesn’t work without the permission of the collective bargaining community of the federal states, but there is also life outside of the collective bargaining community,” said Ryan Plocher, a member of the GEW district management in Neukölln and a teacher at a community school. In addition, it was already known ten years ago that there would be a shortage of teachers and at the time they had not planned accordingly, he criticized. “Berlin is not able to build schools fast enough and is not able to train teachers in the long term.”
In his class, out of 24 students, five had special educational needs and four had dyslexia, Plocher explained. In a smaller class, he would have more time to look after these students, Plocher said.
NRW strike news:
The Verdi union called on workers in wholesale and foreign trade in North Rhine-Westphalia to go on a warning strike on Wednesday. The union announced that around 1,800 employees from 51 companies were expected to attend a rally in Bochum. There, the Verdi negotiator for wholesale and foreign trade, Silke Zimmer, will speak to the strikers. With the action, the employees want to increase the pressure on the employer. The next round of negotiations will take place on June 13th.
Zimmer said workers expected employers to make an offer to compensate for the massive price increase. In the first two rounds of negotiations, the employers wanted to fob off the employees with an offer that was far too low. “This is scandalous in view of the economic development in wholesale and foreign trade,” said Zimmer.
Verdi is demanding an increase in wages of 13 percent for employees in wholesale and foreign trade in North Rhine-Westphalia, but at least by 400 euros. The employers submitted an offer in April that included an increase of 4 percent as of December 1, 2023 and a further 2.1 percent as of December 1, 2024, as well as inflation compensation premiums.
Movement in the railway tariff conflict – probably no warning strikes for the time being
7:25 p.m.: No warning strikes are to be expected in the current week in the current collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Bahn. The Deutsche Bahn and the railway and transport union EVG want to negotiate a solution again from June 12, as both sides announced on Monday evening after a coordination meeting.
“Today the negotiators of DB and EVG met in Frankfurt for a coordination meeting. The confidential conversation was constructive, “said the railway and the railway and transport union EVG. The planned meeting on June 12 will probably take place in Berlin.
The union is currently negotiating with the railways and dozens of other railway companies about higher wages and salaries for a total of around 230,000 employees. The focus is on the negotiations with DB, where a good 180,000 of these employees work.
The union demands from the employers a fixed amount of at least 650 euros per month more or twelve percent for the upper wage brackets. According to their ideas, the term should be twelve months.
During negotiations in Fulda at the end of May, the railways promised a step-by-step increase of twelve percent in the lower wage groups. The middle groups should get a total of ten percent more and the upper groups eight percent. The first stage of the increase should therefore come this year. In addition, there is also a gradual inflation compensation premium totaling 2850 euros, which could be paid tax- and duty-free from this July. The term should be 24 months. The EVG rejected this offer.Pro Bahn demands an emergency timetable from Bahn in the event of new strikes
Situation in the wage dispute at the railway is deadlocked
Monday, June 05, 2023 at 06:38: The Pro Bahn passenger association has asked Deutsche Bahn to set up an emergency timetable in the event of new strikes. A “minimum offer” would at least prevent travelers from being “stranded,” said the federal chairman of the association, Detlef Neuß, of the “Bild” (Friday). On the other hand, the railway and transport union (EVG) is obliged to announce a warning strike in good time. Of course, it would be best if the company and the union continued their negotiations.
The situation in the wage dispute at the railway is deadlocked. The EVG had announced further warning strikes on Wednesday without initially naming a date. On Thursday evening, according to its own statements, it sent a short-term invitation to talks to the railway negotiators in order to possibly avert the strike. It was initially unclear whether the company wanted to respond to the offer of talks.
The railway had previously rejected further negotiations and the submission of a new offer, citing the attitude of the union. The EVG stubbornly insists on its demands and is not willing to compromise, said Human Resources Director Martin Seiler. Negotiations are “pointless”.
The EVG has so far demanded twelve percent more wages for all employees for a twelve-month term, but at least 650 euros more. The railway had offered twelve percent for lower incomes, ten percent for middle incomes and eight percent for higher incomes as well as a tax-free inflation adjustment of a total of 2850 euros, which is to be paid out in stages.
In particular, because there was no promise of a minimum increase from which those on lower incomes would benefit, the union rejected the offer. The EVG also criticized the term of 24 months now offered by Deutsche Bahn as still too long.
Union calls for warning strikes in the Berlin confectionery industry
Sunday, June 4, 3:42 p.m.: Employees in five Berlin confectionery companies laid down their work on Monday. The food, beverages and restaurants trade union (NGG) called for the warning strike in order to put pressure on employers in the current collective bargaining round.
For the approximately 60,000 industry employees nationwide, the union demands 500 euros more per month in the lower wage groups, in the other 400 euros more, and for trainees 200 euros more per month. “The employers’ offer to increase wages by only 3.8 percent in 2023 and 2.9 percent in 2024 does in no way do justice to the precarious situation of many employees,” explained the managing director of the NGG region Berlin-Brandenburg , Sebastian Riesner, on Sunday.
The companies have recently increased their sales massively, he argued. “Nevertheless, they want to fob the employees off with peanuts. The anger in the factories is huge, and that’s no wonder.” According to the union, the warning strike begins early Monday morning at 4:30 a.m. In four plants, only the early shift is affected, in the Bahlsen plant on Oberlandstraße in Tempelhof work should be suspended all day. Employees from all five companies also meet there in the morning for a meeting. A total of around 1,200 people work in the five companies.
According to the NGG, warning strikes are also planned in other federal states on Monday, for example in Lower Saxony and Thuringia. In mid-May, the union announced a nationwide “warning strike” in June.
union resigns warning strikes at Bahlsen
Saturday, June 03, 3:30 p.m.: In the collective bargaining dispute in the confectionery industry, the Food, Pleasure and Restaurant Union (NGG) has announced warning strikes at the luxury goods manufacturer Bahlsen in Varel (Friesland district). According to the Oldenburg NGG managing director Matthias Brümmer on Saturday, work in the Varel plant is to be stopped on Monday morning with the start of the early shift. 247 employees make biscuits there.
“There is no crisis in the confectionery industry, only sales records,” said Brümmer. The employees wanted their fair share of this. Because of the record prices in the supermarkets, skyrocketing rents and fuel prices, the financial worries are huge.
The union NGG is currently negotiating with the Federal Association of the Confectionery Industry about higher wages for the approximately 60,000 employees in the industry. According to their own statements, the union wants to increase the pressure with a Germany-wide warning strike after two unsuccessful rounds of negotiations. Around 50 companies are to be struck across Germany in June.
The employer offer so far provides for wages to be increased by 3.8 percent in 2023 and by 2.9 percent in 2024. That does not do justice to the precarious situation of many employees, criticized Brümmer.
The union demands 500 euros more per month in the lower wage groups, 400 euros more in the other groups, and 200 euros more per month for trainees.
More information on the warning strikes on the following pages.
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