MVG warning strike on Tuesday - S-Bahn not affected

Public transport users in Munich will have to adjust tomorrow (July 9^th 2019) to the fact that buses, trams and subways are delayed or not operating at all. The strike is expected to start at 3:30 am and ends at 2:30 pm. According to Verdi, it is not yet foreseeable when the regular timetable will take effect again that day.

Certain employees of the Munich Transport Company (MVG) are called out to strike. New work forces have been hired there since 2011, apparently to save on personnel costs. According to Verdi, they earn significantly less than their c.500 colleagues, who are still on the payroll of the Stadtwerke München as their former employer. Since they have another collective agreement, those 500 are not allowed to take part in the warning strike.

Buses, trams and subways will be affected by the strike. Of the bus drivers, only about half are called to action. The others drive for a private bus company on behalf of the city and therefore can not join in the strike. Conversely, the entire S-Bahn traffic is not affected as they have a separate collective agreement as well.

With these actions, Verdi wants to ensure that the Munich transport company is going to pay each employee about 200 euros more per month and thus close the pay gap to the workers who have been recently hired to the old conditions and wages in other municipal transport companies in Bavaria.

The union has already met once with employers to negotiate. The MVG had promised a double-digit wage plus spread over the next 30 months.