The strike, which started at 03:00 local time on Thursday night in the public transport sector upon the call of the Ver.di workers' union in the capital of Germany, Berlin, continues. Bus, metro and tram services have been canceled due to the strike, which will end at 03:00 tomorrow. Commuter trains connected to another company continue their services.
Employees had difficulty reaching their workplaces, students had difficulty reaching their schools, and those with appointments had difficulty reaching their appointments. Due to the strike, many people used transportation vehicles such as bicycles, e-scooters and scooters. While taxis were working overtime, it became almost impossible to find an empty taxi in the capital. Due to the density of vehicle traffic in the city, traffic flow has slowed down at many points, and traffic has come to a standstill on some streets. In addition to commercial enterprises such as stores and markets, small tradesmen have also been negatively affected by the problems in city transportation.
"Wages are too low compared to the workload"
Christine Behle, Vice President of the labor union Ver.di, said in a statement, "The situation for public transport workers is extremely problematic. There are very few staff, which means that the workload is constantly increasing. In addition, the wages are too low compared to the workload, and the rate of illness is high." Behle said that thousands of employees will retire in the coming years, which will increase the workload even more.
The Berlin Transport Corporation (BVG) had last offered its employees a 17.6 percent wage increase. The union, which finds the offer insufficient, is demanding a monthly salary increase of 750 euros, a 13th salary payment, an additional payment of 300 euros for drivers, and an additional payment of 200 euros for shift workers for around 16,000 employees. The BVG management, however, says that the union's demands are excessive and cannot be met. The parties will meet again for the next round of negotiations on February 26.
Following Ver.di's call for public transport workers in six states to go on strike, workers in the states of Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate went on a 24-hour strike today.
