Millions of demonstrators no longer bring Fridays for Future in Germany onto the streets – in order to emphasize their own demands, the climate activists are therefore looking for supporters for their "climate strikes". They are so called because originally pupils and students took to the streets on Fridays instead of going to school and university. Later, some workers also joined. But the pandemic has put a damper on the movement, and the war against Ukraine is making the struggle for public perception even more difficult.

Lukas Fuhr

Editor in politics.

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For their "climate strike" on Friday, the activists have therefore formed an alliance with the strike-experienced trade union Verdi. The service trade union supported a joint day of action with 240 protest actions throughout Germany – in Visselhövede in Lower Saxony as well as in Memmingen in Bavaria, in almost all major German cities as well. Tens of thousands responded to the call.

Together, Fridays for Future and Verdi wanted to draw attention to an area in which Germany is particularly lagging behind the German government's climate targets: transport. In order to change this, the government must invest in buses and trains, a "radical turnaround" is necessary, climate activist Annika Rittmann had already declared in advance.

Foundations laid two years ago

In the call for the climate strike on Friday, however, "better working conditions" for transport workers were also demanded. Verdi advocates this in principle – especially in the collective bargaining dispute in the public sector. With warning strikes in several federal states, the union wanted to put pressure on municipal employers on Friday – with success: In Baden-Württemberg, for example, there was hardly a bus or train in larger cities. The Verdi district reported a greater participation in the warning strike than in previous years. Trips were also cancelled in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Hesse, Bavaria and other federal states.

The chief executive of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations, Steffen Kampeter, criticized the joint action day of Fridays for Future and Verdi. This is a "dangerous border crossing" – strikes are permissible in order to reach a collective agreement. "But anyone who mixes labor disputes and general political goals quickly finds himself on a playing field beyond our collective bargaining autonomy," criticized Kampeter. The CSU politician Stephan Stracke, who sits on the Bundestag Committee on Labor and Social Affairs, expressed similar views. Verdi damages the right to strike if the union mixes warning strikes and demonstrations with Fridays for Future.

Verdi boss Frank Werneke told the F.A.Z. that the "ecological transformation of society" can only be thought of together with social change. "When it comes to mobility and public transport, these two topics are closely linked." They agree with Fridays for Future. "To question and scandalize the legality of our strikes is far-fetched and pure propaganda," Werneke said.

Fridays for Future, on the other hand, reminded that the "climate strike" was not a German solo effort, but a global action that was not based on the dates of a local warning strike. The cooperation between Verdi and Fridays for Future is not entirely new anyway. Two years ago, the two had already laid the foundation for cooperation with a joint dialogue paper.