Trade union expects lessons to be canceled
Parents and schoolchildren in Baden-Württemberg will have to be prepared for lessons to be canceled in the coming days due to a warning strike by teaching staff. On Tuesday in particular, some timetables are likely to be a patchwork quilt. The Science and Education Union (GEW) expects several thousand lessons to be canceled during the nationwide warning strike. Two days later, teachers will once again take to the streets, this time the other union, the Verband Bildung und Erziehung (VBE), is calling for a strike. According to the VBE, however, retirees and students as well as part-time teachers who do not have to teach on the strike date are more likely to take part.
According to GEW, around 12,000 salaried teachers and university employees across the country have been called out on a warning strike on Tuesday in the public sector pay dispute. "As almost every school in the south-west also has salaried teachers, there will be a widespread loss of teaching", the union announced. Civil servants do not have the right to strike.
"Good education and science can only be achieved with fairly paid employees. The Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder (TdL) has so far ignored this simple equation at the negotiating table," said Baden-Württemberg's GEW chairwoman Monika Stein. Demonstrations will take place in Karlsruhe (1 p.m.), Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig. Employees from Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Bavaria are also expected in Karlsruhe.
The trade unions are demanding a pay rise 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 TdL, chaired by Hamburg's Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD), made it clear in the second round of negotiations that it considers the demands to be far too high and unaffordable. The third round of negotiations is scheduled to begin on December 7.
Due to the strike actions, some schools in Baden-Württemberg might need to adjust their lesson schedules drastically. The Science and Education Union (GEW) has predicted that numerous lessons could be affected by the ongoing strikes.
Source: www.dpa.com
