Strikes paralyze public transport in Germany
Published: Friday, Feb 2nd 2024, 17:40
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Buses and trains were canceled throughout Germany except for Bavaria on Friday due to a public transport strike. The Verdi trade union had called on the 90,000 employees of municipal transport companies to strike.
Over 130 municipal companies were affected, including bus, subway and tram services in 81 cities and 42 districts. Verdi's aim is to put pressure on the employers in the ongoing wage negotiations.
In most federal states, companies were on strike for the entire day, with some companies even planning to continue the strike until the start of work on Sunday morning. The strike was officially supported by the climate protection movement Fridays for Future.
Work at the Berlin public transport company was suspended until 10.00 am. However, after the end of the strike, the Berlin-Brandenburg transport association warned on the Internet service X that irregularities could still occur in isolated cases afterwards.
Ageing of drivers
Verdi Nord spoke of the "most successful warning strike in recent years" in the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The employers must "finally put constructive and, above all, acceptable offers on the table for sustainable public transport", the union demanded.
Verdi Baden-Württemberg pointed in particular to the shortage of skilled workers in the industry: by 2030, municipal transport companies will be short of around 2,000 employees for the current regular service alone. Hundreds of trained drivers are also leaving the industry every year. "This clearly shows that something is wrong with the current working conditions," criticized the regional association. "The workload, responsibility and stress do not match the pay."
The Federal Statistical Office also warned of an ageing population of bus and streetcar drivers. In 2022, around 40 percent of bus and streetcar drivers were aged 55 and over. On average, this age group accounts for just under 26% of the total workforce.
According to the data, there is a lack of new blood. Only 14 percent of streetcar and bus drivers are under 35 years old. In general, the proportion of 15 to 34-year-olds is more than twice as high at over 30 percent, as the authority also reported. In addition to young people, women are also underrepresented in this occupational group.
Several labor disputes
Germany is currently experiencing a lot of industrial action. It was only on Thursday that security staff at eleven German airports went on strike, leading to massive restrictions in air traffic. Last week, train drivers at Deutsche Bahn went on strike.
Against the backdrop of the local transport services now affected, the FDP called for stricter strike laws. "Strikes of this kind and on this scale therefore raise the question of proportionality and thus also the consideration of whether legal regulations are necessary," said Pascal Kober, labor market policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, to the "Tagesspiegel".
©Keystone/SDA
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