Airports and train and bus stations throughout Germany have been paralyzed this Monday morning, which has caused the interruption of the movements of millions of travelers at the start of the working week during one of the biggest strikes in recent decades in Europe’s leading economy.
The 24-hour strikes called by the Verdi union and the EVG rail and transport union are the latest in a series of strikes that have hit major European economies as rising food and energy prices have hit dent in the standard of living.
Two of the country’s biggest airports, Munich and Frankfurt, suspended their flights, while the German rail operator Deutsche Bahn canceled long-distance rail services.
The Verdi union negotiates on behalf of some 2.5 million employees in the public sector, including those in public transport and airports, while the rail and transport union EVG negotiates on behalf of some 230,000 employees of the rail operator Deutsche Bahn and bus companies.
Frank Werneke, head of the Verdi union, which has spoken of the biggest strike in decades, said the labor action was a matter of survival for millions of workers amid high inflation, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
Consumer prices in Germany rose more than expected in February (9.3% year-on-year) due to cost pressure, which the European Central Bank has tried to control with a series of rate hikes. interest.
The president of EVG, Martin Burkert, has declared to the newspaper ‘Augsburger Allgemeine’ that the employer has not yet made a viable offer and warns of the possibility of new warning strikes, even during the next Easter holidays.
Deutsche Bahn declared the strike “completely excessive, unfounded and unnecessary” on Sunday, with employers warning that raising transport worker wages would lead to higher fares and taxes to make up the difference.
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