Public workers continued their third day of limited strikes on Friday, as employees in Frankfurt and Saarbrücken walked off their jobs in an ongoing labour dispute.
The first round of wage negotiations for some two million public sector employees began on Wednesday in Potsdam, as their union Verdi said it would not rule out strikes to pressure state and federal employers.
Service sector trade union Verdi called for a day-long strike for flight attendants of Air Berlin’s subsidiary airline LTU in Düsseldorf on Monday. Heavy delays are expected.
Deutsche Post, Germany’s privatised mail service, said this weekend that it plans to exit the retail business and close all of the post offices it operates alone. Branches operated jointly with Postbank will continue to stay open.
Salary negotiations for around 220,000 kindergarten teachers and social education workers in the public sector are to enter the final round in Frankfurt on Sunday, a union spokeswoman announced.
Unions called a new round of strikes for some 2,000 public child care workers on Friday near Stuttgart, as a seventh round of wage negotiations with state employers has yet to achieve a breakthrough.
Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen urged a speedy solution to an ongoing labour dispute between public day care workers and state employers ahead of negotiations on Thursday, saying parents can’t handle any more strikes.
Striking public day care workers chose to continue putting pressure on state employers Friday for better wages and working conditions despite agreeing on a new date for negotiations.
Public day care workers staged strikes across Germany for the sixth day in a row on Thursday after negotiations with state employers failed on Wednesday.
Public day care workers will likely continue their strikes after their unions refused a new offer from state employers during negotiations in Berlin on Wednesday.
An ongoing strike by day care workers expanded to states in eastern Germany for the first time on Tuesday in an attempt to increase pressure on public employers to provide better working conditions and wages.
Public day care centres remained closed in much of Germany on Tuesday as workers staged a third day of strikes to pressure state employers into better wage and health care benefits.
Public day care centres remained closed across Germany on Monday morning as workers staged a second day of strikes to pressure state employers into better wage and health care benefits.
Public day care workers began an open-ended strike in five German states on Friday in an ongoing wage and healthcare dispute. Parents were forced to find last-minute alternatives or stay home from work.
Airline workers staged an unannouced strike early on Monday in Düsseldorf, triggering delays that will likely last throughout the day, service workers’ union Verdi said.
Public workers’ union Verdi has encouraged the German government to provide aid for ailing retail and travel company Arcandor, which runs household names like the Karstadt department stores and Thomas Cook travel agency, the <i>Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung</i> reported on Wednesday.
Negotiations over pay for public employees working for the federal states in Germany finished successfully on Sunday with an agreement that the 700,000 workers would receive a five percent increase over two years.
Public workers in four of Germany’s states went on the latest in a series of warning strikes on Friday, hoping to put pressure on employers in an ongoing wage dispute.
Frank Bsirske, head of public workers' trade union Verdi, has called for more strikes after a third round of wage negotiations with German states failed on Saturday.
Travellers planning to fly to or from Berlin’s Tegel and Schönefeld airports faced substantial delays and a few cancellations on Thursday as ground crew staged a warning strike in an ongoing wage conflict, public workers’ union Verdi said.
