Members of thousands of different professions are affected by the collective bargaining – in addition to educators and bus drivers, employees of pools, firefighters, nurses, administrative employees, geriatric nurses, sewage treatment plant employees, foresters and doctors are among others. Many members of these professional groups had already taken part in the strikes. In view of the high inflation, Verdi and the civil servants’ association dbb are demanding 10.5 percent more wages. At least there should be 500 euros more for the approximately 2.5 million employees of the municipalities and the federal government.
The unions had rejected an offer from the employers in the most recent second round of negotiations as far too low. Since then, Verdi boss Frank Werneke had repeatedly pointed out the possibility of the negotiations failing.