Since Thursday, 14 September 2023, ver.di is calling for a week of warning strikes in the Hanover region in the course of the currently ongoing collective bargaining in the retail sector. Retail companies such as H&M, Primark, Ikea, Douglas and Edeka are on strike. On Friday, the logistics centre of Rewe in Lehrte near Hanover was also struck by about 100 colleagues, putting the supermarket under great pressure to stock its shops in the region with sufficient food. Already last week, about 1000 retail workers gathered in Hanover for a demonstration in the city centre. However, as the companies remained rigid in their offer, the one-week warning strike was called.
In the current collective bargaining negotiations, Ver.di is demanding a wage increase of 14.5 per cent or at least 2.50 euros per hour. The collective agreement is to run for one year. However, the HDE trade association is only offering an 8.5 per cent wage increase for a term of two years. In addition, union representatives and workers reported that the trade association openly pointed out that if the wage paid was not enough to live on, government agencies could intervene with assistance. An absurd statement that shows that the companies do not give a damn about their workers and want to keep labour costs as low as possible.
But the service workers' union is also already betraying the workers in their industrial action. For example, ver.di is only demanding a minimum wage of 13.50 euros an hour for the so-called lower employment groups. Meaning that those who are already the most exploited, earn the least and are thus hit the hardest by inflation, are once again being dropped by the union bureaucrats.
If one takes a look at the past strikes led by the trade union bureaucrats of ver.di and Co. it becomes clear that they are nothing but the bootlickers of the bourgeoisie. Whether in the public sector, the postal service, the railways or the health service - in all these industrial disputes the unions only negotiated the minimum demands at the negotiating table, although the workers have always shown that they are ready to continue and intensify the industrial struggle. And again the colleagues are determined to fight. Nevertheless, there are no signs that this one will be any different from the last strikes.
