As of: February 2, 2024, 1:38 p.m
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A banner saying “We are worth it” hangs in front of the Ruhrbahn depot in Essen.
© Fabian Strauch/dpa
Trams and subways remained in depots in many places on Friday.
The all-day warning strike could be followed by further actions, according to Verdi NRW.
Düsseldorf - After the all-day warning strike in most municipal transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia on Friday, Verdi is threatening further actions.
“We have strong counter-demands from employers.
That’s why we will increase the pressure again before the next round of negotiations,” said Verdi NRW negotiator Peter Büddicker to the German Press Agency.
The union will discuss further actions.
The next hearing date in North Rhine-Westphalia is mid-February.
The willingness to strike is very high.
As of midday, 100 percent of those present on Friday had taken part in the work stoppages in the companies on strike.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, trams and subways remained in depots on Friday.
In many places there were only a few buses on the road.
Almost all major transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia, such as KVB (Cologne), Rheinbahn (Düsseldorf), DSW21 (Dortmund) and the Münster municipal utility, are on strike.
An exception was, among others, the Aachen company ASEAG, which has an in-house collective agreement.
Only a small part of the regular buses ran in the strike regions, which are already operated by private subcontractors.
The striking municipal transport companies pointed out to passengers, among other things, that rail traffic on the RE, RB and S-Bahn lines was not affected by the warning strike.
In the most populous federal state, millions of people had to find an alternative way to get to work or school.
Experience has shown that many employees work from home on such days.
The NRW Ministry of Education announced that compulsory school attendance also applies in the event of a warning strike in local transport.
According to estimates by the Association of German Transport Companies, municipal transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia transport around five million passengers per day.
Since these are mostly outward and return journeys, there could have been around 2.5 million people affected.
The transport company assumed that the warning strike would have an impact until the start of the shift early on Saturday morning.
The background to the warning strike is the collective negotiations in North Rhine-Westphalia about working conditions in the municipal transport companies.
These are regulated in the collective collective agreement.
Verdi NRW is calling for additional days off and emphasizes that the union's demands for the collective agreement have been known to employers for a long time.
“The dramatic shortage of workers in public transport is leading to canceled trips everywhere and a huge amount of overtime for employees,” Verdi NRW explained.
The health of the employees is also important.
The transport transition also requires a “work transition”.
The employers' association KAV NRW described the warning strike shortly after the negotiations began as excessive.
An additional day off would not result in relief, but rather in an additional burden on existing employees.
From an employer's perspective, it is therefore important to create incentives to strengthen productivity.
The employers also pointed out that a significant wage increase for employees of local public transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia will soon take effect on March 1st.
This is also a signal to increase the attractiveness of jobs in local transport.
dpa