Collective bargaining round - Warning strikes in NRW - thousands attend rallies in Düsseldorf
At two rallies in Düsseldorf on Tuesday, trade unions loudly reiterated their demands in the wage dispute for the public sector of the federal states. Ahead of the third round of collective bargaining this Thursday in Potsdam, numerous unions had called for two rallies, followed by demonstrations through the city center and a large demonstration at noon at the NRW state parliament. According to a dbb spokesperson, several thousand employees attended the kick-off rally in the morning, organized by the German Civil Service Union (dbb), the Association for Education and Training (VBE) NRW, the police union and the tax union.
Several thousand people also took part in a parallel rally in the state capital organized by Verdi and the education union GEW, among others, according to a Verdi spokesperson. According to the unions, state employees from university hospitals, universities, the judiciary and the state administration in NRW wanted to go on warning strike. The dbb spokesperson said that teachers, tax administration employees and police officers had also taken part. There were also civil servants on site who had taken time off work for their protest. Civil servants are not allowed to strike. "The frustration runs deep," emphasized the spokesperson.
In NRW, around 26,000 jobs in the state's public service are vacant, according to the dbb state association. The public sector is on the verge of collapse in the medium term and "tangible efforts are needed to make it more attractive". Verdi and the dbb are demanding a 10.5 percent wage increase, but at least 500 euros more. The employers of the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder (TdL) reject the demands as unaffordable.
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Source: www.stern.de
