After warning strikes in municipal transport companies, Verdi in North Rhine-Westphalia is now calling for an all-day strike in some cities following a strike vote. Other locations are to follow. Negotiations are taking place at the same time.
Düsseldorf/Dortmund - Public transport passengers in Düsseldorf and the surrounding area, in Krefeld and Bochum must expect significant restrictions on trams, subways and buses this Monday. Employees of the Rheinbahn at the depots in Düsseldorf-Benrath, Ratingen-Tiefenbroich and Mettmann as well as the Bogestra in Bochum (Weitmar depot) and the SWK mobil in Krefeld are stopping work all day, as Verdi NRW announced at short notice early on Sunday morning. Therefore, cancellations and delays are to be expected on various lines of the companies on strike. The work stoppages should start with the early shift, which in some places begins around 1:30 a.m., said a Verdi spokeswoman in response to a dpa request.
The union also announced the start of a fourth round of negotiations with employers on Monday in Dortmund. It was supposed to start in the morning at Dortmunder Stadtwerke DWS 21. It's about the working conditions of the approximately 30,000 employees in the municipal transport companies.
Verdi NRW is calling, among other things, for additional days off in order to relieve the burden on staff and make the professions more attractive. The union spokeswoman described the selective strikes on Monday as “noticeable needle pricks” in order to increase the pressure on employers. The work stoppage should end with the late shift, and effects could last until after midnight. Further strike measures are also being planned in the next few days, which should be announced at short notice.
Verdi declared the negotiations on the general collective agreement to have failed after the third round of negotiations in mid-March and called for a strike vote on indefinite strikes. In this, 97 percent of the voting union members among employees were in favor of such a labor dispute, as Verdi NRW announced in the middle of the week.
The employer side submitted an improved offer in writing on Thursday. Among other things, it provides for up to four additional days off for certain groups of employees, as the municipal employers' association KAV NW announced. In addition, employees who fill in for colleagues who are absent at short notice should receive a ten percent bonus. There should also be improvements in time allowances. The municipal employers' association referred to a significant salary increase on March 1st, an extremely tense economic situation for local transport companies and a tight staffing situation.
“We interpret this offer as a signal of willingness to talk, but negotiations will continue to take place at the negotiating table and not by post,” said Verdi negotiator Heinz Rech, according to a statement on Sunday. At the same time, the union wants to call for strikes in some areas of local transport across the country in the coming weeks, but not all at the same time. “Our concern is not to strike the passengers. We want to increase the economic pressure on companies with so-called strikes,” emphasized Rech.
“In order to set the course for functioning public transport in the long term, more staff are needed,” said the Verdi negotiator. But that will hardly be possible without improved working conditions. “In many places, employees have already reached their limits. Without relief, the system of overtime and high levels of sick leave will eventually collapse.”
The Pro Bahn passenger association was critical of the strike actions. Predictability is important in public transport - which makes it all the more annoying to announce a strike at very short notice, complained federal chairman Detlev Neuß in the “Rheinische Post” (weekend edition). He doesn't think it makes sense that the priority is not to hit the passengers, but rather the companies.
In February and March, Verdi NRW largely paralyzed public transport in the most populous federal state with several warning strike calls for one or two days each. Around 30 municipal transport companies such as KVB (Cologne), Rheinbahn (Düsseldorf), DSW21 (Dortmund) and the Münster municipal utility were affected. Trams and subways remained in depots as a result of the work stoppages. In most cases, only a small proportion of the regular buses operated by private subcontractors ran in the strike regions. An exception is the Aachen transport company Aseag, which has an in-house collective agreement. dpa