Verdi heralds strike wave: chaos at airports and local transport!

Verdi heralds strike wave: chaos at airports and local transport!

On Monday, March 10, 2025, the Verdi union started a comprehensive wave of warning strikes in the public service at 2:00 a.m. This protest campaign affects numerous sectors, including airports, buses and trains as well as municipal facilities. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the airports in Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund and Weeze are particularly affected by the work. In Düsseldorf it is expected that about half of the flights will fail, while public transport is also significantly restricted. In addition, employees in the cities of Mülheim, Essen and Oberhausen deploy their work from Monday to Saturday.

Verdi has formulated clear claims: The union is striving for a wage increase of 8% or at least 350 euros per month, and there are claims for additional days off. Despite the legitimate concerns, employers rejected the claims as inconceivable. With the expansion of the warning strikes, Verdi plans to put pressure on employers in order to steer them in the negotiations. Restrictions can also be expected in the area of ​​locks on the Weser.

collective bargaining and their context

The current warning strikes are part of the collective bargaining for the public service that started in January 2025. The next round of negotiations is planned for the period from March 14 to 16, 2025. A total of around 2.3 million employees in the federal and municipalities are affected by the negotiations, with far -reaching effects on the supply in the entire public sector. The existing collective agreement ends on December 31, 2024, and the negotiations are characterized by a large lack of personnel and a high workload.

The unions, including Verdi and the DBB civil servant, not only require a salary increase, but also an increase in training allowances by 200 euros per month and significantly higher surcharges for particularly stressful activities. A central point in the negotiations is also the desire to reduce the weekly working hours for civil servants from 41 to 39 hours. These topics are of great importance in view of the stagnating tax revenue of the municipalities and the difficult financial framework.

The role of employers and past events

The employers, represented by the association of the municipal employers' associations (VKA), have so far been skeptical about the demands of the unions and do not see themselves as a duty to submit concrete counter offers. In the first round of negotiations, which took place on January 24, 2025, no result could be achieved, and also the second round of negotiations on 17/18. February 2025 had no agreement. In view of this situation, the likelihood of larger warning strikes should increase in the coming days, especially in areas such as daycare centers, nursing and garbage collection.

Only a few weeks ago there was a serious incident in Munich when a vehicle drove into a strike train and injured at least 28 people. Such events illustrate the tense situation during this massive week of protest. Key factors remain the impact on the upcoming Bundestag elections, which will certainly influence in this context.