Public transport workers join climate activists for week of strikes across Germany

Verdi union in unusual alliance with Fridays For Future, founded by Greta Thunberg, based on common goals

Public transport workers across Germany are joining forces with climate activists for a week of strike action culminating in a collective nationwide walkout and climate protest on Friday.

One of Europe’s largest trade unions, Verdi, which represents the majority of public transport workers in Germany, is collaborating with the youth-led Fridays for Future in what the organisations themselves admit is an unusual partnership, but one born out of recognition of their overlapping goals. More action on the climate crisis requires greater investment in public transport, they argue.

Previously, transport workers and Fridays for Future have often been in opposition to each other.

Under the slogan #WirFahrenZusammen (We’re driving together), the new alliance will hope to galvanise public support for their goals. A recent train drivers’ strike that went on for several days, costing the economy an estimated €1bn (£860m), garnered considerable backing from the public.

The protests, covering all German states except Bavaria, will involve 90,000 workers from 130 municipal transport organisations and will demand better working conditions, higher pay and investments of about €100bn by 2030, to double current capacity, with organisers calling for a “social justice transport transformation”. They will focus on the need for more political will to prioritise sustainable transport and a commitment to provide the necessary funding for this.

Andreas Schackert of Verdi, representing bus and train workers, said some local transport services were on the verge of collapse due to a lack of workers and this would have a knock-on effect on Germany’s ability to reduce its carbon emissions.

“Public transport is an important lever when it comes to tackling climate change,” he said.

According to the association of German transport companies, 110,000 additional workers are needed in the public transport sector over the next six years to cope with a chronic staff shortage and reported high levels of stress and burnout among existing workers.

In cities including Berlin, services have recently had to be cut back due to a lack of drivers.

“In order to counteract this, working conditions and wages need to drastically improve,” said Darya Sotoodeh, of Fridays for Future Germany. “Expansion of public transport is a decisive factor in this so that emissions in local public transport in particular, can be reduced.”

She said instead of seeking improvements, transport companies were trying to keep workers’ wages low at a time when the attractiveness of jobs in the sector needed to rise.

Fridays for Future, founded by Greta Thunberg in 2018, has struggled to find its momentum since the pandemic, which put a stop to its Friday “strike” protests, but linking up with socially relevant causes is a strategy it hopes will enable it to regain its relevance.

Schackert has denied accusations that Verdi is trying to politicise the strike by joining climate activists. “The strikes are not a means of political demonstration. We’re seeking shorter working days, relief for those on shift work and a higher holiday allowance,” he said. Higher wages are being sought after for workers in four states.

The two organisations held strikes last year that deliberately coincided with each other, but this is the first time they have officially coordinated a joint action.

Matthias Kureck, a bus driver from Berlin for the past 16 years who is involved in the strikes, said he had been sceptical of the alliance but now was “a proud climate activist” after recognising the groups’ common goals.

“Bus drivers and climate activists might not seem like allies at first glance. In fact, we’ve often been pitted against each other, but we actually have a lot in common,” he said. “We need proper funding for our public transport in order to reach our climate goals and in order to improve our working conditions. We are clearly so much stronger when we fight together … now I can proudly say I am a climate activist myself.”

Cover photo: Members of the Verdi trade union during a strike by Lufthansa workers earlier this year. Photograph: Maximilian Schwarz/Reuters