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The Ver.di union wants more money for “systemically relevant” professions and is putting pressure on the federal government and local authorities: one day before the third round in the public service wage dispute, tens of thousands of employees in various federal states want retire on Wednesday. Warning strikes have been announced in Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony, among others, the Ver.di union said. Depending on the region, employees of nurseries, administrations, hospitals or garbage collectors must stop working. Already on Monday and Tuesday there were warning strikes in Hamburg, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, the German Association of Cities criticized this in times of the crown crisis.
The federal government and the municipalities presented an offer last Friday in which they offered the almost 2.5 million employees a total of 3.5 percent more wages and salaries in three annual stages. The unions consider this to be insufficient. With the new collective agreement in effect for one year, you are demanding a 4.8 percent increase in salary and salary, but at least 150 euros more per month.
Seehofer: Up to 1800 euros more per year for “Heroes in crisis”
The business side was optimistic: “The worsening of the pandemic means that there is special pressure to end it now,” said the president of the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations, Ulrich Mädge, of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “Therefore, I am convinced that we will reach an agreement in the next round of negotiations and we will not need arbitration.”
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer sees the employer offer as recognition of employees’ work in systemically important professions. “With our offer we honor what heroes do in the crisis,” said the CSU politician. According to the Ministry of the Interior, employees of hospitals and healthcare centers can expect up to € 1,800 more per year as a result of the employer’s proposal.
In Hamburg, library and museum employees are also on strike
In Hamburg, employees of bookstores, museums, the trade fair and parts of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) want to hold a warning strike on Wednesday. During the three-day actions in the Hanseatic city, educators, among other things, stopped their work on Tuesday. Warning strikes are also expected in some regions of Lower Saxony and in Bremen. Nursery schools, municipal and district houses, savings banks or garbage dumps are affected. Ver.di President Frank Werneke will give a speech in Hannover in the morning.
In the capital of the state of Brandenburg, Potsdam, the call for a warning strike is aimed at employees of the administration, kindergartens and waste disposal. In Magdeburg, city employees, individual kindergartens and the garbage disposal want to stop working. In Leipzig, Ver.di calls for warning strikes at the city administration, Sparkasse and the city cleaning service.
