It is Sunday evening when the big warning strike arrives at the boss for the first time. At 21:38 p.m., Martin Burkert briefly looks at his mobile phone and discovers the photos of railway employees with orange vests and banners that have just been sent to him from the ICE plant in Hamburg: "Here we go," murmurs the chairman of the railway and transport union (EVG). He does not say this triumphantly, but with a mixture of satisfaction and tension.

Corinna Budras

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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Dietrich Creutzburg

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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At the beginning of the 20 p.m. shift, hundreds of union members went on strike, by which time Burkert had long since arrived in Potsdam and moved into the congress hotel, where the Verdi trade union will continue its negotiations for the public service with the federal government and municipalities for three days from this Monday. Verdi arrived there with 200 people, supported by Burkert, a group of EVG trade unionists and a whole series of protest events throughout the country.

According to Verdi, it is the largest strike the republic has seen in the past 30 years: in local and long-distance public transport, in the motorway company, in kindergartens and schools, in garbage collection. The trade unions in two different collective bargaining disputes are sinking in, as one would actually wish from the coalition leaders meeting at the same time in Berlin.

"Excessive and exaggerated strike"

Deutsche Bahn is talking about a "mega strike". As a precautionary measure, it shut down all long-distance traffic and, unlike otherwise, did not draw up an emergency timetable. This would have made no sense in view of the extent, argues the state-owned company.

Railway spokesman Achim Stauß added on Monday morning again: "It is very strange that one strikes today and is only in five weeks ready to negotiate with us again," he said. This "excessive and exaggerated strike is affecting millions of passengers who depend on buses and trains".

From the point of view of the union, however, it is the railway that has ignited the next escalation stage through the shutdown. Some consider this to be a veritable lockout. EVG boss Burkert also finds disproportionate not the strike, but the management salaries at the railway: 2100 euros for a cleaner, 2400 for a customer advisor would be a boss salary of more than 80,000 euros a month, calculates the Social Democrat. For cleaners, customer advisors and other professional groups, he now wants to enforce 650 euros more salary per month.

In the public sector, the range of collectively agreed basic salaries (excluding special payments and surcharges) ranges from 2016 euros per month for unskilled assistants to 7144 euros for senior managers with long periods of service. There, Verdi, as well as the DBB Beamtenbund, demands 500 euros more per month for all employees whose salaries are below 4762 euros, and for the remaining 10.5 percent more.

In search of compromise

Despite the big strike, the negotiators and commissions of all trade unions and employers met in Potsdam this Monday with the aim of finding a compromise and thus a solution to the collective bargaining dispute in three days of talks. Verdi chairman Frank Werneke had also made it clear in advance that despite all the strike power, despite all the pressure of expectation, he was also interested in a collective agreement this week.

The same applies to the DBB Beamtenbund – which, however, is currently somewhat on the edge of the public spotlight on the big double strike of Verdi and EVG. Although the DBB has also called on its members among public sector employees to strike, it is not participating in the new strike cooperation.