03.03.2023
Warning strike in local transport –
There is a strike here in Hesse today
The warning strikes by public sector employees in Hesse continue. According to the Verdi union, today’s warning strike has begun. It affects local public transport in Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Kassel and Mannheim.
In Hesse, ESWE buses are no longer to be driven in Wiesbaden, and trams and subways are to be shut down in Frankfurt. In addition, the buses and trams in Kassel are on strike.
Frankfurt
The Frankfurt VGF is also involved. There will be a strike here all Friday. It is expected that all nine subway lines and ten tram lines will be affected that day. However, the S-Bahn lines and buses, as well as the regional trains will run. At the same time there is a global climate strike by Fridays for Future in Frankfurt, in which the Verdi strikers are also taking part. They want to draw attention to the importance of local public transport in the fight against climate change.
Kassel
KVG in Kassel assumes serious restrictions
The Kasseler Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (KVG) expects that the warning strike will result in serious restrictions on buses and trains. This also applies to the KVG bus lines 11, 17 and 22 in the surrounding area and on the tram routes to Vellmar, Baunatal and through the Lossetal, according to one Communication from the KVG.
Regio trams probably only go to Kassel main station
The KVG also assumes that neither the trams nor the buses of the KVG on lines 1 to 29 will run in the entire city of Kassel on Friday. It is also to be expected that the RegioTrams from the surrounding area will only go to Kassel main station. Means: The journeys through the city center will be omitted.
Mainz and Wiesbaden
Effects of the strike in Wiesbaden
According to the current state of knowledge of the Wiesbaden mobility service provider, the warning strike will last all day: from the start of operations early Friday morning to the end of operations early Saturday morning (March 4, 2023). ESWE Verkehr currently assumes that no bus operations can take place during the strike period; this also applies to school transport and the Nightliner journeys on Saturday night. The Mainzer Verkehrsgesellschaft will also be affected by the warning strike, so that there will probably also be no traffic on the community lines between Mainz and Wiesbaden.
Effects of strike also in Mainz
In Mainz there will probably be no buses and trams running all day. According to the current status, the warning strike also affects ESWE Verkehr in Wiesbaden and thus all community lines. According to the current state of knowledge, only the KRN buses (lines 630, 652, 653, 654, 656, 660) in the surrounding area run regularly on Friday. Train traffic is not affected. Due to the strike, the traffic center at Mainz main station will also remain closed on Friday. In Mainz, a rally by Fridays for Future is also planned on the central Gutenbergplatz on Friday as part of the global climate strike.
More e-scooters can be set up in Wiesbaden
Due to the warning strike by the ver.di union at ESWE Verkehr on Friday (March 3rd), the state capital of Wiesbaden informed the e-scooter providers that more e-scooters may be set up at train stations and other central transfer points than usual during the strike . Normally, the number of e-scooters per provider and location is limited. This measure is intended to enable more passengers who, for example, travel part of their journey by train, to use an electric scooter for the rest of the journey.
Taxis tend to be less in demand
Occasionally there are also buses, but not from ESWE, but from private providers who drive to the Rheingau, for example. A taxi driver tells HIT RADIO FFH that he has few customers despite the strike and suspects that the strike has been known for a long time, so people don’t have to spontaneously take a taxi.
© HIT RADIO FFH / Benjamin May
Striking ESWE bus drivers in Wiesbaden.
Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Darmstadt
No public transport in Mannheim
In Baden-Württemberg, employees in eight cities with their own local public transport are called on to walk out all day. Stuttgart, Freiburg, Mannheim, Heilbronn, Ulm, Esslingen, Constance and Baden-Baden are affected on Friday. The union expects that there will be no public transport in these cities on Friday.
Local traffic in Ludwigshafen affected, Darmstadt not affected
The employees of Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH in Ludwigshafen have also been called to all-day warning strikes. Darmstadt, on the other hand, is not affected, as the transport operator HEAG announced. The background is that different collective agreements apply there. Because of a demonstration by “Fridays for Future” there could be disabilities in the city.
Why isn’t the strike affecting all bus lines?
For commuters, it might be a little confusing why some lines run on Friday and others don’t. The background is various collective agreements. The warning strikes affect the negotiations in the public sector – and thus, for example, the remuneration in the transport companies, which are bound in the collective agreement TV-N Hessen. This includes, for example, the KVG in Kassel.
Various collective agreements apply
The collective agreement of the private bus industry (state association of the Hessian bus operators) applies to bus routes on behalf of the NVV. There are currently no contract negotiations here and therefore no strikes. Collective bargaining agreements with the EVG and/or GDL unions usually apply to rail transport.
Warning strikes in several federal states
The Verdi union has announced warning strikes in local public transport for other federal states. In addition to Hesse, Friday also Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony and Saxony should be affected. as announced by the union in Berlin. Actions are also planned in individual cities such as Munich.
Warning strikes combined with Fridays for Future
The warning strikes are to take place at the same time as a global climate strike by the climate movement Fridays for Future this Friday. “We want to combine the global climate strike day with the 200 actions of Fridays for Future with warning strikes in local public transport,” said deputy Verdi boss Christine Behle. “A traffic turnaround will not be possible without investing in employees as well.”
In the negotiations for the approximately 2.5 million federal and local employees, the Verdi union and the civil servants’ association dbb are demanding 10.5 percent more income, but at least 500 euros more per month. Apprentices should receive 200 euros more per month.
Employers offer a salary increase of five percent
The employers had rejected the demands as “unaffordable” and presented an offer in the second round of negotiations. This includes, among other things, a pay increase of five percent in two steps and one-off payments totaling EUR 2,500. The Verdi union, in turn, considers this offer to be insufficient.
What would it mean for a city to pay higher salaries to government employees? And how important is a tariff increase for those affected? That’s what ours is about Interview with the mayor of the city of Wetzlar and with a street cleaner employed in Wetzlar.
