EVG, the largest railway and transport union in Germany, started a massive strike on March 27, 2023 with more than 30.000 employees gathering in the morning. “In many cities in Germany we are taking to the streets this morning to stand up for our justified demands,” EVG says.
“Our demands are simple and fair: we want better pay for our colleagues, in the face of high energy prices and high inflation,” Martin Burkert, Chairman of the EVG said.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of Kongresshotel am Templiner See in Potsdam this the morning when also EVG team started negotiations with TVöD, a body which determines the salary based on experience and family situation.
“We are on strike today because, despite the tense financial situation for many employees, we were not presented with anything in the collective bargaining that we could seriously negotiate,” EVG Deputy Chairman Christian Loroch said who is joining the strikers in Frankfurt/Main.
From midnight 26 March, DB long-distance rail traffic suspended followed by regional and S-Bahn services which have been closed.
DB says that the “EVG massive strike is exaggerated groundless and unnecessary. Negotiations are just beginning, and an offer from DB is already on the table,” Deutsche Bahn says in a press release.
On March 23, 2023, EVG called on the employees of all railway and transport companies which entered negotiations to join forces for what is to be the biggest strike Germany has seen in 30 years.
Public transport workers across Germany, including rail, bus and air transport started a one-day strike part of a paying dispute.
Ver.di union is also stuck in negotiations on behalf of around 2.5 million employees in public sector, while EVG represents 230,000 workers from rail and bus transport companies.
“More is possible together and we fill this motto together with our colleagues from the EVG,” ver.di chairman Frank Werneke said.
EVG demands a wage increase of 12% representing EUR 650 each month, while Verdi stands for a 10.5% increase (EUR 500) per month. DB and other public employers propose a 5% wage increase on average and a one-time payment of up to EUR 2,500, but the offered wage increase is below 2022 inflation tare of 6.9%.
The two unions have called yees at the airports, in local public transport (ÖPNV) in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen as well as Saxony, in some municipal ports, at the motorway company and in the water and shipping administration as well as the employees of Deutsche Bahn with its bus companies and also of Transdev, AKN, Erfurter Bahn, Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen, erixx, vlexx, eurobahn and the Länderbahn to start the strike on March 27.
Flights have been suspended at Munich, Frankfurt, Bremen, Hamburg and Stuttgart airports. “On, Sunday, March 26 and Monday, March 27, 2023, there will be no regular passenger traffic at Munich Airport due to all-day strikes,” the Munich Airport says, complemented by Frankfurt Airport which announced that “due to a strike by the German Union ver.di airport operations will be heavily disrupted at Frankfurt Airport throughout today. There will be no regular passenger flights.”
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