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– – –A bank employee wears a hat with the Verdi logo during a warning strike. Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa / archive image
Source: dpa-infocom GmbH
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Now things are getting serious in the wage conflict of the public service: In several cities in Lower Saxony Verdi has called for a warning strike on Tuesday. As if that weren’t enough, commuters have to look for alternatives to buses and trains for their commute in many places.
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Hannover (dpa / lni) – After a few warning strikes in the collective bargaining conflict in the public service, the stoppages in Lower Saxony are to be significantly expanded. The Verdi union called on Tuesday workers in Salzgitter, Braunschweig and Wolfsburg to stoppage. Disposal companies, street cleaning companies and city administrations are affected. On Monday around 150 employees in the city of Hanover temporarily stopped work.
In particular, commuters in the north-west have to be prepared for restrictions: According to the union, around 6,000 employees are called upon to stop work. Buses and trains in Hanover, Bremen, Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Göttingen, Goslar and Osnabrück are likely to be affected. In Hanover, the Üstra transport company advised its passengers to switch to other means of transport on Tuesday.
“I would not register my car today,” said a Verdi spokesman in Hanover about the work stoppages on Monday. In some cases, longer waiting times are to be expected. Employees of the public order office and the professional fire brigade were also involved in the warning strike, said Olaf Hartmann from Verdi. With banners with inscriptions like “We are worth it” or “First we are relevant, now we are uninteresting” the employees symbolically circled the town hall.
Verdi and the Beamtenbund dbb are demanding 4.8 percent more money, at least 150 euros, for a term of 12 months, for the nationwide 2.3 million employees of the federal government and municipalities. In mid-September, the second round of negotiations remained without result. The third round of negotiations is scheduled for October 22nd and 23rd. Local public transport is also part of the public service, but the union’s demands have nothing to do with collective bargaining. Verdi had called for work stoppages in order to enforce nationwide collective bargaining negotiations for the 87,000 employees in local public transport.
A Verdi spokesman emphasized in advance that no daycare centers would be called on to strike at this time. This is a reaction to the long tense childcare situation for many parents during the corona pandemic.
“This is a special situation for the employees. Today you are resisting the standstill in the ongoing nationwide negotiations, ”Hartmann emphasized. A serious offer has not yet been made.
The local union Komba announced actions and warning strikes for Tuesday in Lüneburg. In addition, there will be all-day work stoppages at the waste disposal companies in Göttingen and Salzgitter, said union spokesman Oliver Haupt. “The municipal employers maintain the rituals, have not yet submitted an offer and are thus giving employees the cold shoulder.” The public service is systemically important and has shown in the pandemic how important it is for the functioning of coexistence. The employer argument of empty coffers is as old as the collective bargaining itself.
For Bremerhaven, Verdi announced on Tuesday that employees of the city council, the Bremerhaven Clinic, the disposal companies, the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholz Center for Polar and Marine Research, the Weser-Elbe Sparkasse as well as the bathing company and the zoo all day Warning strikes are called. Rallies and bicycle demonstrations are planned.
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