This is what happens after the coup

With a major warning strike, the EVG and Verdi unions have largely paralyzed rail, air and freight traffic across the country. Passengers and passengers are prepared. There was no major traffic chaos. But its effects should also be felt in the first half of the day on Tuesday.

However, especially in rail traffic, it takes several hours for everything to work properly again. According to Bahn, it will take some time for trains to leave the depots and staff to get back to where they are needed after long-distance traffic comes to a complete stop. Therefore, passengers should be prepared for cancellations and delays in the first half of the day. Restrictions also affect less regional and S-Bahn traffic.

Airport association ADV assumes that air traffic can start quickly as planned. A spokesperson for the association said that while the scale was large this time, it was not the first such warning strike.

In previous warning strikes, acceleration worked largely smoothly. However, Frankfurt Airport advises passengers to check the status of their flights early and allow sufficient time. Longer waiting times on Tuesday are possible due to the strike.

In the days leading up to Easter and during, at least EVG no longer wants to issue warning strikes on rail traffic.

Verdi did not make such a clear statement, but even there those responsible should know that nothing is planned until Easter and after. “If the negotiations don’t work at all, we can imagine doing it again,” said a regional spokesperson in Berlin. “But it’s unrealistic before Easter.”

With nationwide warning strikes, unions have increased the pressure on employers in their collective agreements. The third round of talks between Verdi and the civil servants’ association with federal and local governments in the public sector has been underway since Monday. Given the hardening fronts, it was unclear whether progress would be made on the three-day tour.

Ulrich Silberbach, president of the civil servants’ association, swindled the failure. If the employer does not significantly improve his offer, an arbitration attempt will wait to begin. If that doesn’t work, “it will be necessary to enter into a broad, unrestricted labor dispute.”

EVG is in talks with Deutsche Bahn and 50 other rail companies about more money for around 230,000 employees. The first round of negotiations ended last week. According to EVG, the second one starts Wednesday. Then, gradually, negotiations will be held with all railway companies.

Negotiations with Deutsche Bahn as the largest employer are scheduled for the end of April. Here, too, the ideas are very far apart.

It remains to be seen whether unions make it harder to reach agreement with employers with warning strikes. Federal Home Secretary Nancy Faeser said she at least understands the workers’ concerns.

Deutsche Bahn, on the other hand, has repeatedly stressed the profound lack of understanding that the second round of collective bargaining, which will begin on Wednesday, will only take place so late. “It is very strange that they are on strike today and are ready to renegotiate with us only in five weeks,” a spokesperson said. EVG collective bargaining board member Kristian Loroch pointed out that the negotiation program was coordinated with all parties before the first round.