Collective bargaining agreement in the Bavarian brewing industry
Friday, May 5, 6:27 a.m.: Shortly before the start of the beer garden season, the Bavarian brewers and the NGG trade union agreed on a collective bargaining agreement. With a term of 24 months, the approximately 10,000 employees will receive 285 euros more from June 1, 2024, and salaries will then increase by a further 3.9 percent from March 1, 2024, as the Bavarian Brewers’ Association announced on Thursday. According to the NGG, this corresponds to an overall increase of 11.7 percent. In addition, the employees will receive an inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros in three tranches. For the trainees there is not only more money but also improvements in days off.
The tariff conflict could only be resolved by arbitration in 14-hour negotiations, which lasted into the night from Wednesday to Thursday. The Brauerbund sees the result as “an enormous additional burden”. But one had to face a difficult choice: “Accept an arbitration that is difficult to justify or risk a strike with an uncertain result.”
At the NGG, on the other hand, one speaks of an important and urgently needed step, which was only achieved through the great determination of the employees. “If the arbitration failed, the brewing kettles would have stayed cold from next week,” said negotiator Mustafa Öz.
warning strikes in local transport in several federal states
8:05 p.m.: Because of a renewed warning strike in several federal states, people in many places waited in vain for the bus or tram on Thursday. The Verdi union had called on employees in several transport companies in Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg to stop working on Thursday.
A trade union spokesman in Baden-Württemberg confirmed the start of the warning strike to the German Press Agency. Local public transport is affected there in numerous regions. According to the Verdi regional spokesman, nothing was running on numerous lines in North Rhine-Westphalia either. Regiobus Hanover also reported failures of heavily frequented lines.
According to Verdi, around 2,000 employees took part in the warning strike nationwide by noon on Thursday. The union expects that the number will increase because some companies go on strike after shift times, it said.
Verdi and the employers’ association Deutsche Eisenbahnen are negotiating more money for around 5,000 employees nationwide. More than 2,000 employees nationwide took part in the first warning strikes of this collective bargaining round last Wednesday. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for May 5 in Fulda.
Warning strikes in several federal states in public transport and clinics
Thursday, May 04, 2023, 09:42: Local public transport has now been shut down in some federal states:
- NRW – Cologne, Minden, Oberbergischer Kreis
- Baden-Würtemmberg
- Schleswig-Holstein
- Lower Saxony
- Bayern
The university clinic in Mainz has also switched to emergency services because of the warning strikes. With the start of the early shift on Thursday, a warning strike started at the University Medical Center Mainz. According to the union, Verdi called on around 7,300 non-medical employees to stop work.
The warning strike is planned until the end of the night service on Saturday morning, as Silke Steetskamp from the Verdi state district of Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland said. According to Unimedizin, an emergency service ensures urgent treatment. However, there may be delays or cancellations.
That is why many are joining the warning strikes:
Many under 40,000 euros! – What the striking professions earn
Reading tips:
Chaos over tickets – violent train strike! What happens now with my purchased tickets?
More warning strikes for public transport and clinics on Thursday
3:05 p.m.: Further warning strikes will be carried out for Thursday 4 May 2023. Public transport and Mainz University Medicine are affected. The latter is to be on strike until Saturday morning, so that operations that can be planned may be postponed. An emergency service will be set up.
The federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg must expect severe restrictions on public transport tomorrow. In Bremen, too, public transport will be stopped until tomorrow morning.
Public transport in Bremen is still on strike
Wednesday, May 03, 2023, 09:44: Since Tuesday, the Verdi trade union has been on strike for 48 hours on buses and trams operated by the Bremen transport company BSAG. According to its own statements, Bremer Strassenbahn AG is not planning an emergency timetable. “We are on strike,” says the company’s website. According to Verdi, local transport from other providers such as Deutsche Bahn, Nordwestbahn and bus companies from the Bremen area is not affected. The walkouts were intended to increase pressure on employers ahead of the fifth round of negotiations with BSAG on May 9.
48 hours-warning strike: Buses and trams in Bremen are at a standstill
Tuesday, May 02, 2023, 8:18 p.m.: Nothing has been running since Tuesday morning: buses and trams in Bremen are said to be at a standstill until Thursday morning (3:00 a.m.). Employees of the Bremen transport company BSAG are on a warning strike. “Everything started as planned,” said a spokesman for the Verdi service union on Tuesday of the German Press Agency. Verdi had called for the warning strike.
With the strike before the fifth round of collective bargaining with the Bremen tram company on May 9, Verdi wants to increase the pressure on employers. The Verdi negotiators rejected the latest offer because it did not offer competitive wages. It is not enough to close salary gaps with other local transport companies.
“In this way, the staff can neither be retained nor urgently needed new employees found,” says Franz Hartmann, union secretary at Verdi. This also jeopardizes the planned traffic turnaround. The union is demanding an increase in wages of EUR 600 from March 2023. The training allowance is to increase by EUR 278 per month.
According to the union, local transport from other providers such as Deutsche Bahn, Nordwestbahn and bus companies from the Bremen area is not affected. A rally of workers from the BSAG and EVG is planned for Wednesday. The participants want to gather around 9.30 a.m. on the station forecourt at Bremen Central Station.
No rapprochement in Galeria collective bargaining
4:17 p.m.: According to the Verdi union, the fourth round of collective bargaining for the workforce of the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof also ended without a result. There is still no negotiable offer from the company, said Verdi negotiator Marcel Schäuble on Friday. The department store group did not comment on the negotiations.
The union had clearly rejected the idea of a department store collective agreement with permanently reduced wages, said Schäuble. “We are now expecting a clear concession and a negotiable offer in the next round.” Another waiver is not reasonable for the employees after the loss of purchasing power due to inflation and energy price increases in recent months. The fifth round of negotiations is scheduled to take place on May 25, 2023 in Frankfurt am Main.
In recent weeks, workers in numerous Galeria branches have gone on warning strikes in support of union demands for better wages and salaries. Germany’s last large department store group had to seek rescue again in protective shield proceedings at the end of last year and is currently in the middle of a difficult restructuring process. According to the restructuring plan approved by the creditors in the course of the insolvency proceedings, more than 40 of the last 129 branches nationwide are to be closed and thousands of jobs cut.
Union EVG: “We could paralyze the railway for weeks”
Friday, April 28, 11:16 am: The railway and transport union (EVG) has threatened warning strikes over several days in the wage dispute with Deutsche Bahn. “We could paralyze the railway for weeks,” said negotiator Cosima Ingenschay of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Friday). Both sides again accused each other of not being interested in serious negotiations. Bahn boss Richard Lutz called on the EVG to “continue the negotiations immediately and not to drag out the collective bargaining round any further”. “Our employees are waiting for money, our passengers expect solutions,” Lutz told journalists in Berlin.
The EVG has been negotiating a new collective agreement with the state-owned group since the end of February. DB declared the last round of talks to be over on Wednesday. The reason given by the company was a refusal by the union to negotiate the new offer from Deutsche Bahn for around 180,000 employees. In addition to a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment of a total of 2850 euros, it provides for a gradual increase from March next year of a total of ten percent for the lower and middle wage groups and eight percent for the upper wage groups.
The union rejects the offer as non-negotiable. It demands at least 650 euros more per month or twelve percent for the upper income groups and a term of one year. The next hearing is scheduled for the end of May.
The wage dispute has already been accompanied by two warning strikes. In March, EVG, working hand in hand with Verdi, paralyzed large parts of the traffic for a day. In addition to the railway, numerous airports and some local public transport were affected. A week ago, Deutsche Bahn employees went on strike again for eight hours. The DB had to stop long-distance traffic for hours, and almost no trains were running in local and regional traffic either.
“Two warning strikes should actually be enough to get a negotiable wage offer,” Ingenschay told the “SZ”. But the railway is apparently not interested in serious negotiations. “It’s the railways that are provoking the new strikes,” said the EVG negotiator.
DB boss Lutz, on the other hand, emphasized that the current employer offer is the highest in the company’s history. “We have more than doubled our first offer and have taken a huge step towards the union.” “Then the question arises: What else?”
A sticking point in the negotiations is the issue of the minimum wage. Around 2,000 employees have so far only received this through allowances because the statutory minimum wage has risen faster than the tariff tables in recent years. “Before we negotiate, the statutory minimum wage of twelve euros must be anchored in the salary table,” said Ingenschay. “Otherwise the ten percent wage increase for the 2,500 employees will be gone immediately.”
Deutsche Bahn, on the other hand, refuses to clarify the minimum wage issue in advance before entering into the actual collective bargaining. Instead, it offers 13 euros per hour, but does not want to include this in the tables until August 2024.
According to Ingenschay, the next warning strikes will last longer. “The effects obviously have to be more massive so that it hurts the employer.” It is conceivable that the EVG would start campaigns in different regions one after the other. Or that train attendants and other professional groups go on strike in turn. But these are all still conceptual models. “The railway system is so fragile that if we take out a few interlockings, everything will collapse,” said Ingenschay.
Here you can find out in which cities local transport will be paralysed.
You can read more information about the warning strikes on the following pages.
