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We need to take the pressure off local public transportation, Culture Senator Klaus Lederer said this week when he and his Senate colleagues introduced the new crown measures. Lederer has emphasized this several times, and by that he did not mean: relieve employees. He said: absolutely avoid crowded trains.
It was an invitation to employers in the region to make the home office more conscious again, not to send people unnecessarily around town.
He said: Avoid situations where many people stay together in a confined space – situations that could promote contagion, even if 98 percent of passengers now adhere to the mask requirement in rush hour traffic. He certainly didn’t mean: squeeze the entire city into half the supply.
The Verdi union goes on strike again at BVG this Friday. With some exceptions, subways, trams and buses will remain in the depot for a full 24 hours. A few hours before the city closes for the night, viruses may throw another crown party.
Surely an important target, completely out of date
As a reminder: it wasn’t even two years ago that BVG’s 14,600 employees received eight percent more pay, more Christmas bonuses, better allowances, and collective bargaining after a tough week on strike.
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The renewed strikes, which also affect many other regions, are aimed at standardizing working conditions in the countries. Certainly an important goal, but one that seems completely out of date when the citizens of one state don’t even know if they can go on vacation to the other.
While many industries are struggling to survive, while restaurateurs no longer know whether their stores will still be there after winter, and the state is spending billions to save the economy, Verdi is demanding less work and more vacations.
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The BVG already loses hundreds of millions of euros in revenue due to fewer passengers, especially tourists. The failures will be compensated by the federal and state governments for the time being, but the situation could get worse, also because tourists are no longer officially attracted.
Who knows how long? The city as a whole is now a risk zone. There have been enough stop signs in recent days, Verdi might have seen them too.
