Germany sees endless waves of strike

Germany has seen waves of strikes in several sectors since the beginning of this year, disrupting rail and air traffic in particular and spreading to other industries as well, reported Xinhua.

In January, a five-day strike by train drivers led to a virtual standstill of rail transport. This was followed by numerous strikes by local transport staff. A month later, thousands of flight connections at major German airports were canceled as pilots as well as ground and security staff walked off the job.

The train drivers' strike, which affected both passenger and freight traffic, was announced to last for six days. This would have set a new record for the longest rail strike in Germany but was prevented by an early return to the negotiating table.

The German Economic Institute (IW) estimated that the rail strike alone cost 100 million euros (108 million U.S. dollars) per day in economic output.

"The behavior of the collective bargaining parties is increasingly degenerating into class warfare," IW expert Hagen Lesch said of the conflict between the rail workers' union GDL and Deutsche Bahn. "This development should worry us. We need more partnership and constructive talks again," he added.

By ignoring talk offers for weeks, GDL had noticeably lost support for their strikes among the German population. The union showed reluctance to compromise on its core demand of a significant reduction in working hours to 35 hours a week, and faced considerable pressure before the strikes were temporarily suspended until March at least.

The German government stressed that the rail strikes were threatening the transport sector's green transition. "With ever new and ever longer strikes, the climate-friendly rail mode of transport is becoming increasingly less attractive," the government's rail commissioner Michael Theurer said, comparing the act to "playing with fire."

Germany is struggling to meet its own emissions' reduction targets for the transport sector. Although trains are largely climate-friendly, the country's dilapidated rail network prevents the expansion of passenger and freight transport as an alternative to car use.

Following a long period of high inflation, rail workers are not the only group prepared to escalate wage disputes. According to the union Verdi, ground staff at Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa are more willing to strike than at any other time during the past 20 years. "We can even go longer if you ask us to," chief negotiator Marvin Reschinsky warned recently.

Unions see a steady increase in membership. Last year, Verdi, the second-largest union in Germany, won around 40,000 new members, bringing the total count to 1.9 million. Alongside ground staff at airports, the union also represents key groups in the transport sector, including local public transport employees.

"The last time there was a comparably positive membership trend was in the mid-1980s," Verdi chairman Frank Werneke said in January. He said people are more prepared to stand up for their demands amid inflation, a gloomy economic situation and growing shortages of skilled workers and labor.

"We need significant real wage increases in order to make up for the wage losses of the past," said Thorsten Schulten from the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI). "Private consumption is still the most important factor for our economy. Unfortunately, this is very often underestimated as the cause of our sluggish economy," he added.

In Germany, strikes are only allowed for collective wage agreements, but not for political goals. Only trade unions are allowed to strike and strikes during negotiations are limited.

According to the latest WSI strike research, Germany lost 18 working days per 1,000 employees on an annual average from 2012 to 2021. In comparison, Belgium, France and Canada lost an average of 96, 92 and 78 working days respectively.