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Lufthansa employees on strike
Photo: RONALD WITTEK / EPA
Germany's employers have sharply criticized the warning strikes planned by the Ver.di union in local transport on the day of the Fridays for Future climate strike.
"Ver.di's announcement that, together with the organization Fridays for Future, they will paralyze and block traffic in large parts of Germany is a dangerous crossing of borders," said the chief executive of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), Steffen Kampeter.
Ver.di wants to paralyze public transport in six federal states and some cities for 24 hours this Friday.
The action is to take place together with the climate activists from Fridays for Future, who are calling for a global climate strike on Friday.
Ver.di wants to increase the pressure in the collective bargaining for the public service of the municipalities and the federal government.
Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate are particularly affected by the warning strikes.
Kampeter said: "Strikes are allowed to achieve collective agreements that regulate working conditions." Demonstrations could be aimed at very different goals.
“But anyone who mixes labor disputes and general political goals quickly ends up on a playing field beyond our collective bargaining autonomy.” Political or even quasi-political strikes are simply illegal in Germany.
Kampeter called on the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) to "distance from this border crossing".
Overall, Fridays for Future is planning demonstrations and rallies in around 200 German cities this Friday.
hej/dpa-AFX
