BY CARL-ERIK ISACCSSON
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Subways, trolleys, and busses stood still in cities across Germany the morning of March 3, as members of the public transport workers union OTV carried out a half-day warning strike. Millions of people caught in traffic jams for hours were reminded that the negotiations between the OTV and DAG public workers unions, with 3.2 million members, and the German federal and local governments are close to stalled. According to the unions, 130,000 workers across the country took part in warning strikes.

Negotiations began in early January over the public workers' contracts, with union demands for an overall 4.5 percent raise in compensation, including wage increases at least equal to inflation; more even wages and hours between east and west; and job guarantees. The local and federal governments, led by minister of Interior Manfred Kanther, have demanded a reduction in sick-leave payments and cuts in pension benefits.

Some 45,000 workers turned out for protests during an earlier round of warning strikes in the first half of February.

A second round of work stoppages took place during the week that culminated March 3. On February 26, for example, garbage collectors in the northern town of Braunschweig caused traffic jams by dumping rubbish in the town center. Union officials said 3,000 workers marched in protest outside the town hall there. That day in Wolfsburg, public transport workers took part in token stoppages during the early part of the morning rush hour. Hospital and university employees in the town of Potsdam near Berlin walked out to join other public sector workers for rallies that drew around 1,000 people.

The states of Baden-Wurttemberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, and Hessen were center of warning strikes March 2. In Baden- Wurttemberg 8,000 workers took part in the protests and, according to union officials, 600 buses and 200 trolleys in eight towns stood still for four hours that morning. Buses and trains in Munich, Lubeck, and Wiesbaden also stood still; in Berlin 4,000 public employees rallied. In Frankfurt am Main garbage collectors stopped working and a demonstration of 2,000 took place in that town. In Duisburg 4,000 public employees rallied.

Demands for a shorter workweek to reduce unemployment have been raised by the unions as part of these negotiations. OTV chairman Herbert Mai stated in a February 16 interview in Bild Zeitung, "In a longer view we need a massive shortening of the workweek. With a 30-hour workweek a decisive step toward the goal of reducing unemployment by half would be reached." He said budget cuts between 1992 and 1996 eliminated 500,000 jobs in the public sector. Working hours per week are 38.5 in the west and 40 in the east. Unemployment climbed to 4.8 million in January - over 12 percent.

The latest strikes came immediately after the March 1 election for premier in the state of Lower Saxony, which the Social Democratic candidate Gerhard Schroder won by a wide margin. The vote was viewed as a sort of primary to the September federal elections, in which Schroder will challenge conservative chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Carl-Erik Isacsson is a member of the metalworkers union in Sodertalje, Sweden.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home