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Verdi announces further warning strikes in the public sector

Public service workers continued their warning strikes in Hamburg on Monday.

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Verdi announces further warning strikes in the public sector

Public service workers continued their warning strikes in Hamburg on Monday. This time, employees from city cleaning, the Hamburg Port Authority and the Elbe kindergartens took to the streets. After a demonstration march through the city center, there was a final rally on the Gänsemarkt, in which around 500 people took part, according to the unions. The background to this is the currently ongoing collective bargaining in the public sector.

“We demand that the employers end their blockade immediately. They get the receipt for the dubious tactic of submitting non-negotiable offers all over the country, including here in Hamburg. Our patience is exhausted," said Volker Geyer from the civil servants' association dbb. Public service workers have led Germany through escalating crises over the past three years. "Now it is time for the colleagues to receive a decent and fair wage increase in return."

The warning strikes are to continue on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, the Marburger Bund called on doctors from the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE), the Asklepios Clinics and the Helios Clinics in Hamburg to stop working. The Marburger Bund has offered all affected clinics an emergency service agreement to ensure emergency medical care for patients.

Under the motto "We are the gold of the city", the United Services Union (Verdi) called on all Hamburg employees and trainees in the public sector collective agreement to go on a all-day warning strike on Thursday. According to the union, several thousand employees from the hospitals, the Elbkinder daycare centers, the city cleaning service, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) and the State Opera will take to the streets together. The strikers meet at 9:00 a.m. for the rally on the Rathausmarkt and then march through the city center to the union building at Besenbinderhof. There will be a final rally there. The daycare parents have already been informed by their facilities that they have to look after their children themselves on Thursday – a big problem for many working people.

With the warning strike, the workers want to give more weight to their demands before the next round of negotiations from March 27th to 29th. “Salaries in the public sector have risen by 3.2 percent since February 2021, prices by over 13 percent over the same period. A corresponding increase is therefore absolutely necessary, especially for employees in low and medium wage groups," said state district manager Sandra Goldschmidt. The employer's offer is also absolutely out of the question in terms of amount and duration.

The employees of the Asklepios clinics and the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) as well as the city cleaning are also called on Friday for the warning strike. City cleaning workers should continue their strike up to and including Sunday. The union is demanding 10.5 percent more wages, but at least 500 euros more per month, for around 2.5 million employees in the federal and local public services nationwide. The employer side has so far offered five percent more money in two steps and one-off payments totaling 2500 euros. The third round of negotiations is scheduled for March 27-29 in Potsdam.

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