Fridays for Future: "Local transport strikes are climate strikes"

Fridays for Future considers the warning strikes announced by Verdi to be an important contribution to curbing the climate crisis. "These public transport strikes are also climate strikes," said Darya Sotoodeh, spokesperson for Fridays for Future Germany, at a press conference in Berlin on Thursday. "The expansion of public transport is the decisive factor in reducing emissions in the transport sector."

Verdi has announced a nationwide wave of warning strikes on local buses and trains for next week. As the union announced in Berlin on Thursday, the industrial action is planned to take place on different days from Monday to Saturday, with the main strike day on Friday, March 1. Bavaria is the only federal state not affected. In parallel to the warning strikes, Fridays For Future is organizing numerous demonstrations against the climate crisis on 1 March.

The Verdi trade union is currently negotiating collective agreements in parallel in all federal states. Most of the rounds are primarily about working conditions for employees. Sotoodeh criticized: "More and more buses and trains are breaking down, timetables are being cut and public transport employees are leaving the profession in droves because the working conditions are making them ill." The climate movement spokesperson said that the expansion of local public transport that is necessary for a turnaround in transportation is only possible with better working conditions. They no longer want to allow climate and social issues to be played off against each other.

Fridays for Future is therefore calling for investments of 100 billion euros in local transport by 2030. "That is the money needed to double public transport, as stated in the coalition agreement," said Sotoodeh.

Verdi and Fridays For Future have already been working together occasionally since the summer of 2022, including as part of the "We ride together" campaign.