Public transport strikes have begun in Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatine. Here’s what passengers should know:

German public transport workers go on strike

Public transport in Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatine has come to a standstill on February 21 as around 53.000 transport workers strike.

The strike affects 69 local transport associations across the six federal states. All services run by these 69 associations are cancelled, from the beginning to the end of the Friday timetable.

German trade union ver.di called on the 53.000 employees to strike amid tense pay rise negotiations with government representatives. 

Transportation is one of many sectors feeling the impact of Germany’s demographic shift. “There is too few staff,” ver.di representative Christine Behle explained in a press release, “What’s more, in the coming years thousands of transport employees will retire”. 

The transport strike is part of a wider public sector strike, involving employees at Kitas, swimming pools, rubbish collection services and water authorities, among other services. Across multiple sectors ver.di is pushing for a pay rise of 350 euros per month (8 percent) plus three additional days of holiday leave. 

The union has spurned government representatives’ existing offers, saying they would amount to a real wage cut. The next round of negotiations is set to take place on March 14 to 16.

BVG strike continues in Berlin

Friday is also the second day of a 48-hour public transport strike in Berlin. Industrial action means that all services run by the local transport association the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) will come to a standstill until 3am on Saturday morning. This includes U-Bahns, trams and buses, but not S-Bahn services.

While the BVG employees’ strike is coinciding with the transport strikes in Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatine, employees in each strike are covered by different collective agreements.

Transport employees in the abovementioned six German states are covered by the Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst (The Public Services Collective Agreement or TVöD), while BVG employees are covered by the Tarifvertrag Nahverkehrsunternehmen Berlin (Berlin Local Transport Collective Agreement or TV-N Berlin). However, ver.di represents workers in both of these negotiations.

Unless an agreement is reached soon, public transport users in the seven states are likely to be affected by more strikes ahead of the second negotiation round in mid-March.

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