Airports, train traffic, public transport
That’s how many days there have been strikes this year
March 14, 2024, 10:22 a.m
Emergency timetables, canceled flights, traffic chaos in the cities: With a series of strikes, employees at the railways, at airports and in local transport are fighting for better working conditions. On how many days since the beginning of the year have strikes affected German local and long-distance transport?
Germany in spring 2024: The strike-related state of emergency is almost part of everyday life in travel. The reason? The rise in consumer prices has recently driven up the cost of living significantly. Train drivers, bus drivers, cabin crews and security staff at airports are also demanding adjustments.
Independently of each other, employees at the railways, transport companies and at airports are fighting with their employers for more money and better working conditions. Warning strikes and high-profile work stoppages are intended to emphasize their demands.
It’s not just millions of commuters, students and long-distance travelers who are affected. The current wave of strikes is also affecting parts of the German economy through restrictions on freight transport. When and where has there been a strike in Germany in the past few weeks? A look at the German strike calendar shows: Since the beginning of the year there have only been two individual weeks in which there were no strikes in Germany.
The ongoing tariff disputes at Deutsche Bahn, among cabin and security staff at airports and at municipal transport companies have been causing widespread disruption for months. The public feels the labor dispute particularly hard when the strike actions overlap – which has already happened several times this year.
DAccording to economist Clemens Fuest, strike actions have long had an impact on the German economy, for example through work stoppages in freight transport or indirectly through disruptions in professional and business life. “This is an additional burden that we don’t actually need,” said the head of the Munich IFO Institute.
In his view, the sharpness of the collective bargaining disputes should also be seen against the background of the ongoing economic weakness. “The pie is getting smaller. What we can distribute gets smaller, and then the dispute increases. It is much easier to make concessions in a growing economy.”
Overall, however, according to Fuest, the impact of strikes is still rather moderate compared to Europe-wide. In Germany, the unions are “very sensible overall,” said the economic researcher. In France, for example, there have been four to five times as many strike days in recent years.