Verdi extends warning strikes in the public sector
Citizens must be prepared for further warning strikes in the public sector of the federal states. "We are extending the warning strikes," said the chairman of the Verdi trade union, Frank Werneke, to the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). In a statement, the union announced that employees from district offices, schools and the fire department, among others, would go on strike from this Monday in Hamburg.
Werneke also told the newspaper: "In particular, in the two weeks before the next negotiation date on December 7 and 8, the daycare centers that fall under the collective agreement of the federal states will be on strike, especially in Berlin." Other employees in social work and at university hospitals will also be called out on warning strike. "This may lead to non-urgent operations having to be postponed in some clinics." Emergency care will be guaranteed.
Teachers will also be called out on strike, said Werneke. Especially in the eastern German states and in Berlin, there are many teachers who are employed and not civil servants and who could therefore go on strike. "Classes will also be canceled." In the city states, the citizens' offices are also going on strike.
Negotiations without results so far
At the beginning of November, the second round of negotiations for around 1.1 million public sector employees in the federal states ended, as expected, without a result. Around 1.4 million civil servants, to whom the result is usually transferred, are also affected. A breakthrough could be achieved in the third round of negotiations in December.
The unions are demanding 10.5 percent more income, but at least 500 euros more. Junior staff are to receive 200 euros more. The wage agreement is to run for 12 months. For Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen, the unions are demanding a monthly city state bonus of 300 euros.
Verdi and the dbb civil servants' association had made similar demands in the previous wage dispute for the federal and local public services. Werneke emphasized in the SZ: "I have the firm intention of not ending the collective bargaining round until we have a result that is comparable to the agreement reached by the federal and local governments. There we have achieved an average wage increase of 11.5 percent across all employee groups."
The head of the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder (TdL), Hamburg's Finance Senator Andreas Dressel, had rejected the demands as unaffordable and pointed to the "very difficult budgetary situation" of the federal states.
The demand for a wage increase and tariff adjustments extends beyond Verdi, as trade unions representing 1.4 million civil servants also expect a positive outcome from the upcoming negotiations. Despite the challenging financial situation of the federal states, public service disruptions, such as warning strikes in district offices, schools, and fire departments, could potentially impact tariff-covered daycare centers and non-urgent operations in certain clinics.
Source: www.dpa.com
