Local transport strike begins in large parts of Saxony

In large parts of Saxony, a three-day strike at regional transport companies began in the early hours of the morning. The trade union Verdi has called on employees at numerous companies to stop work until early Saturday morning. According to the union, the districts of Zwickau, Erzgebirge, Mittelsachsen, Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, Meißen, Bautzen and Görlitz as well as the cities of Dresden and Chemnitz are affected. The background to this is the collective bargaining in Saxony's local transport sector.

The municipal transport companies and the districts of North Saxony and Vogtland are excluded. In addition to higher pay, the union says it is demanding better regulations on working hours for shift work and more opportunities to take time off in lieu. After five inconclusive rounds of negotiations with the local transport employers' association (AVN), the union secretary responsible, Sven Vogel, believes that there is still a lack of a substantially improved offer. He criticized that the employers were operating within a rigid financial framework and were offsetting minor concessions against other demands.

Dispute over 5-day week and compensatory time off

According to the information provided, one of the concrete offers so far is a pay increase of two percent this year and next. Due to the current price trend, the union does not consider this to be sufficient to avoid real wage losses and noticeably improve incomes. AVN Managing Director Gerrit Fechner, on the other hand, emphasized that the financial leeway of municipal companies is limited due to tight budgets.

There is also a dispute over the mandatory five-day week for shift workers and rules on compensatory time off demanded by Verdi. The union is demanding more concessions from employers. AVN Managing Director Fechner points out that local transport must also be offered reliably at weekends; the labor market hardly provides additional personnel for peak times. The next round of negotiations between AVN and Verdi is scheduled for May 12.

Some of the transport companies on strike have already published or announced emergency timetables and are providing information on their websites about the services on offer. The Hoyerswerda transport company says it sees no possibility for emergency operations and expects all city lines to be completely canceled.