2024-02-14 15:47:00
As of: February 14, 2024 4:47 p.m
The next warning strike by bus drivers in Schleswig-Holstein began today. The first affected are the KVG in Kiel, AktivBus in Flensburg and the buses of the municipal utilities in Neumünster and Lübeck. Employees of private bus companies will join tomorrow.
When operations began today, numerous bus drivers in Schleswig-Holstein stopped working. The employees of municipal providers in the four cities of Kiel, Neumünster, Lübeck and Flensburg are initially called upon. Traffic should be largely stationary until service begins on Saturday.
These companies have been on strike since Wednesday
According to ver.di, it’s about TV-N employees, i.e. in public bus transport. Specifically, these are:
- the Kieler Verkehrsgesellschaft (KVG) in Kiel
- the municipal utilities mobile in Lübeck
- city traffic in Neumünster
- AktivBus in Flensburg
Initially, the private bus companies were exempt from the strike. After the end of collective bargaining on Tuesday, ver.di called on the private bus companies in Schleswig-Holstein to go on a two-day warning strike starting Thursday. The call affects all bus companies that belong to the North Bus Association.
These companies will be affected from Thursday
- Car power in North Frisia, Flensburg, Rendsburg, Kiel, Segeberg, Bad Oldesloe, Eutin, Heiligenhafen and Lübeck
- Transdev in Husum and Bredstedt (both Nordfriesland district) and Rendsburg
- Roundabout company in Pinneberg (KViP) in the Pinneberg district
- die Elite Traffic GmbH
- Rohde transport company in Ostholstein
- Istanbul Bustouristik
- Dahmetal in the districts of the Duchy of Lauenburg and Stormarn.
- The Ahrensburg bus operating company (ABG) in the Stormarn district.
Ver.di: “Slap in the face”
“We would have expected a strong signal from the employers to the employees. They received a firm slap in the face of the employees,” explained ver.di negotiator Sascha Bähring on Tuesday afternoon. It will be interesting to see how the employers want to explain this to passengers, says Bähring. It was only out of consideration for the passengers that the tariff commission decided not to call for a warning strike tomorrow, but rather to start on Thursday.
North Bus Association criticizes the strike: “It affects the wrong people”
Joachim Schack, managing director of the North Bus Association, would have expected more accommodation from ver.di during the negotiations. It wouldn’t help if the union kept insisting on the old demands, said Schack. What is also difficult for bus companies is that they already have long-term contracts with their clients in which the required wage compensation payments are not provided. The warning strikes would therefore only affect commuters and school children.
No buses in Kiel
The Kieler Verkehrsgesellschaft (KVG) writes on its website: “We have to assume that from the start of the day routes from around 4:20 a.m. on Wednesday, February 14th until the end of the night bus routes at around 4:45 a.m. on Saturday, February 17th, 2024, there will be no buses will drive.” The “transfer station” at Kiel main station and the service point on Werftstrasse also remain closed.
Replacement timetable in Flensburg
At AktivBus in Flensburg, a special timetable applies during the strike, because there are three subcontractors here that are organized by the private Bus Association North. Lines 2, 3 and line 5 in ring A are completely canceled. The journeys that do take place may be delayed because more people are using the services. According to the transport company, the night buses on the night from Friday to Saturday are not affected by the strikes. In general, there are more trips on Wednesdays than Thursdays and Fridays.
Restrictions in Neumünster
However, there is no emergency timetable for Neumünster Stadtwerke buses. “We had hoped to set up an emergency timetable for this strike. Unfortunately, this plan did not succeed for various reasons,” the municipal utilities write on their website. Significant disruption to city traffic is therefore to be expected.
In Lübeck, ferries are also affected
In Lübeck, too, all bus routes in Lübeck are expected to be mobile. The ferries are also on strike – including the Northern ferry on Priwall. “However, there is a crossing possibility at the main ferry for pedestrians and cyclists to Priwall and back every hour on the hour. Supply for emergency services such as ambulances and fire departments is also guaranteed,” says the municipal utilities. The “Lümo” call bus also does not run. The service centers in Travemünde and at the Lübeck ZOB remain closed. However, lines 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 38, 39 and 40 of the Lübeck-Travemünder-Verkehrsgesellschaft (LVG) are not affected.
Central rally on Friday in Kiel
A central action is planned for Friday, February 16th in Kiel. After a demonstration, there will be a rally at the state house, where petitions will also be handed over to politicians.
Ver.di: Working conditions must improve
The background to the strike is the ongoing collective bargaining for bus drivers. It’s not about more money, but about reducing working hours. ver.di demands a 35-hour week with full wage compensation. The union criticizes the employers for not being accommodating. Previous offers have not been a real relief.
AUDIO: Bus strike again in SH – this time for three days (2 min)
According to ver.di spokesman Frank Schischefsky, working conditions in public transport urgently need to be improved in order to bring more people into the profession in the long term. He couldn’t understand why employers weren’t interested in it. “It doesn’t help us if we have state-of-the-art buses, but people’s working conditions remain poor. That can’t be the case and that’s why we will accompany this round of collective bargaining with massive strikes if there is no significant improvement.”
Next Monday there will be further collective bargaining for employees of the municipal bus companies, said Schischefsky. He hopes for a reasonable offer from the employers. Negotiations will continue for employees of private bus companies on March 5th.
Employer: Shortage of staff makes shorter working hours impossible
From the point of view of Jan Jacobsen, the managing director of the municipal employers’ association, the already acute shortage of staff is the reason why ver.di’s demand cannot be implemented: “We currently have around ten percent too few bus drivers,” he said. In the long term, the requirements of the transport transition would result in a shortfall of even 25 percent. “No matter what we do, there are no more people. There are no more employed people,” said Jacobsen. Reducing the working hours of existing bus drivers is therefore not possible without massively restricting public transport services. “Work half, earn twice as much and everything stays as it is – that’s not how it is. If such demands are implemented, we are talking about loss of prosperity.”
Jacobsen criticizes ver.di’s lack of willingness to compromise. Employers have already offered to reduce working hours by one hour in two steps. For the next round of negotiations, Jacobsen said he expects the union to move. But he doesn’t expect a quick agreement. After all, a joint campaign between ver.di and Fridays for Future is already planned for March 1st. Schischefski, on the other hand, said he did not want to pre-empt negotiations.
ver.di and Fridays for Future are protesting together
What Jacobsen means: Ver.di and Fridays for Future are jointly organizing a campaign for better public transport. The local group of Fridays for Future is also taking part in the central rally on Friday in Kiel. A nationwide day of action is planned for March 1st.
Further information
According to ver.di, the strike started at 3 a.m. on Friday and will last until Sunday morning. Private bus companies are also affected. more
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NDR 1 Wave North | News for Schleswig-Holstein | 02/14/2024 | 4:30 p.m
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