Education: Warning strikes in several areas of the public service

Almost two thirds of all teachers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are on a full day today (7.30 a.m.). Warning strike called. Parents and students must expect class cancellations. The background is the ongoing wage dispute in the public service. The state police’s approximately 700 collective bargaining employees have also been called on to stop work.

The same goes for the road wardens in the Northeast. This could lead to personnel shortages in winter service, warned the State Office for Road Construction and Transport. Slippery roads cannot be ruled out, especially in the morning hours. A demonstration is planned in Schwerin at 12 p.m.

The strike call only affects non-civil servant employees. Civil servants are not allowed to strike. According to the GEW, around 8,100 of the 13,450 teachers at schools are not civil servants. There should be emergency care at schools for elementary and special needs students. According to the GdP, of the approximately 6,000 employees of the state police, around 700 are not civil servants.

The unions are demanding a salary increase of 10.5 percent, or at least 500 euros, for the approximately 1.1 million public employees nationwide and indirectly also for the approximately 1.4 million civil servants. However, the Collective Bargaining Association of the States (TdL), chaired by Hamburg’s Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD), made it clear in the second round of negotiations that it considered the demands to be far too high and unaffordable. The third round of negotiations is scheduled to begin on December 7th.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:231127-99-96107/3