Germany was paralyzed by a “mega-strike” in transport

On Monday, an extremely rare strike movement for Germany began, paralyzing the entire national transport industry, and unions are demanding higher wages in the face of inflation.

Employees of airports, railway, sea freight, automobile companies, local transport are called from midnight (22:00 Moscow time) to 24:00 outside of work.

This mobilization is part of the context of growing social tensions in Germany, where wage strikes have increased since the beginning of the year, from schools to hospitals, including the post office.

Unlike in countries like France, such a unitary movement between the EVG and Ver.di unions, representing 230,000 railway workers and 2.5 million service workers respectively, is extremely rare.

favorable soil

This “mega-strike” (mega-strike) – as the German media has already dubbed it – affects a country where prices have soared for more than a year, and inflation in February reached 8.7%.

The unions are demanding more than 10% wage increases. Employers (states, municipalities, public companies) offer a 5% supplement with two single payments of 1000 and 1500 euros.

EVG and Ver.di expect “wide mobilization”. Deutsche Bahn decided to completely suspend mainline traffic on Monday, warning that disruptions in the region would also be very significant.

The German Airports Federation (DAV) has denounced the strategy of “escalating strikes a la France”, with days of mobilization following one another against pension reform.

“Social conflict without consequences is harmless social conflict,” said Frank Wernecke, president of Ver.di. The ground is becoming more fertile for a social movement in Germany that is moving away from the consensus culture that has built its reputation.

“Over the past ten years, there have been more strikes in Germany than in previous decades,” notes Carl Brenke, an expert at the DIW economics institute.

With a particularly low unemployment rate since the late 2000s, the country is suffering from a labor shortage, according to Carl Brenke, which makes unions “strong” in negotiations.

Since the mid-2010s, they have been able to impose wage increases after a decade marked by Gerhard Schröder-era wage containment policies in the name of competitiveness.

In 2015, a record was recorded – more than 2 million strike days a year. Real wages increased systematically from 2014 to 2021, with the exception of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The momentum was broken by inflation in 2022 with a 3.1% decline. According to Wernecke, employees are “tired of being led by the nose in collective bargaining.”

“Kept alive”

Mobilization for wages in the service sector has been accompanied by demonstrations since the beginning of the year.

“Gasoline and food prices have gone up, my wallet has sensed it,” sums up Timo Stau, 21, who crossed the demonstration on Friedrichstraße, Berlin’s emblematic avenue.

“We have kept the public service during the pandemic. Now we need more money,” adds Petra, 60, a customs official.

Following the threat of an “indefinite strike”, Deutsche Post’s 160,000 employees, who are negotiating separately, have already secured an 11.5% average pay increase in early March.

At the end of 2022, nearly 4 million German industrial workers secured an 8.5% pay raise in two years after several weeks punctuated by work breaks.

But the debate is wider. “It’s not just a matter of salary, but also of funds,” said Jan Exner Konrad, 34, who attended a teacher protest in Berlin on Thursday.