Thousands of Thyssenkrupp steel workers in Germany on Tuesday protested against planned job cuts, accusing bosses at the struggling conglomerate of mismanagement after a failed merger bid with Tata steel.
With Berlin already preparing for Friday’s public transport strikes, schools, kindergartens and government offices across the city have been closed as demonstrations continue on Wednesday.
Thousands of German metalworkers
will down tools for a day from Tuesday evening, as their powerful union flexes its muscles in a battle with bosses for higher pay and more generous conditions.
Germany's metalworkers' union said Saturday that it will intensify its campaign for better pay and conditions, threatening 24-hour "warning strikes" after talks with industry representatives fell apart.
Passengers travelling with Ryanair
in Germany on Friday saw little disruption from a short strike called by a pilots' union, with the no-frills airline praising crew for "largely ignoring" the unprecedented walkout.
German Ryanair pilots will strike for the first time Friday, union leaders said, dialling up the heat in a Europe-wide battle for recognition from the no-frills airline ahead of the busy holiday period.
Strikes by Lufthansa cabin crew will hit 136 flights and 27,300 passengers on Tuesday, with little hope of a negotiated solution to the week-long walkout.
Pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) said on Monday that its members would walk out from all long-distance flights operated by Lufthansa on Tuesday, as a long-running dispute over pay, conditions and retirement heats up again.
A poll published on Tuesday shows that at the peak of their tough talk towards Greece, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble have been earning even greater confidence from German voters.
Members of service workers' union Verdi at Deutsche Post made good on threats to walk off the job on Monday, announcing an indeterminate strike that will hit deliveries across Germany.
Train drivers continued with a two-day strike on passenger services on Thursday, leaving millions of commuters and travellers to find alternative routes.
Train drivers will return to the picket lines on Tuesday afternoon after negotiations with rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) collapsed on Friday. Passenger services will be hit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Update: Lufthansa said Thursday it expects to cancel 700 short- and medium-haul flights on Friday as its pilots stage a walkout for the third consecutive day.
German airline Lufthansa cancelled around 750 short- and medium-haul flights Wednesday, hitting tens of thousands of
passengers, as pilots staged fresh strike action in a bitter dispute over early retirement.
