Status: 29.09.2020 3:06 p.m.
No buses, no trains: On Tuesday, public transport employees across northern Germany went on strike. Tens of thousands of commuters are affected. There were traffic jams in many cities.
In Hamburg At the start of operations, employees of the Hochbahn and the Hamburg transport company stopped working. There have been no buses or subways since the early hours of the morning, only school traffic should be maintained. Since 12 noon, operations have gradually started up again. According to Hochbahn information, all buses and trains should be running on time again since 3 p.m.
The VHH bus company, which connects the surrounding area with the commuter stronghold, was also affected. Accordingly, there were also considerable restrictions in the districts of Pinneberg, Segeberg and Stormarn as well as in the Duchy of Lauenburg.
AUDIO: Commentary on local transport strike: “The arc is vastly spanned” (2 min)
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Lower Saxony: Hanover, Wolfsburg and Göttingen affected
In Lower Saxony All buses and trams of the Üstra in Hanover remained in the depots, around 400,000 passengers are affected. The warning strikes are supposed to continue until the end of operations. In southern Lower Saxony, the main focus of the protest actions are in Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Wolfsburg. Göttingen, Goslar and Osnabrück are also affected by work stoppages, as are Bremerhaven and Bremen.
Bus and train operations restricted in Schleswig-Holstein
The warning strikes also worried commuters in Schleswig-Holstein for problems. The municipal bus routes in Kiel, Flensburg and Lübeck have been since Strike at 3:30 a.m. Only in Flensburg did the buses run by subcontractors. Neumünster was an exception. There the city traffic was not affected by the action. With the end of the strike at 9 a.m., bus traffic returned to normal everywhere.
Warning strikes in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Local public transport also stood still in many places. Tens of thousands of schoolchildren and commuters were affected. Since the end of the warning strike at 9 a.m., local traffic got rolling again. Rostock in particular was affected. According to NDR information, the Neubrandenburger Verkehrsbetriebe (NVB), Schweriner Nahverkehr, Anklamer Verkehrsgesellschaft and Verkehrsgesellschaft Vorpommern-Rügen were not on strike.
Students with long journeys to school were exempt from class because of the warning strike if their bus or tram was not running.
Ver.di calls for uniform national standards
Local public transport is also part of the public service, but the union’s demands have nothing to do with the current collective bargaining negotiations. Ver.di had called for work stoppages in order to enforce nationwide tariff negotiations for the 87,000 employees in 130 public transport companies. The aim is to set nationwide standards because working conditions in Germany have diverged, the spokesman said. Among other things, ver.di is calling for a 13th month’s salary, an increase in allowances for stressful work and shifts and 30 days of vacation for everyone as standard.
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