Ver.di-led action across Germany disrupts buses, trams and subways through Sunday, while separate walkouts hit Ontario school buses and Cyprus power utility
Transit workers represented by the Ver.di union are staging a 48-hour strike across German cities, disrupting buses, trams and subways. The action began at 3 a.m. Friday and runs until 3 a.m. Sunday, heavily affecting service in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich. Ver.di, which represents about 100,000 transport employees, is seeking shorter working weeks and shifts, longer rest periods, and higher premiums for night and weekend work. Regional and long-distance trains operated by Deutsche Bahn, and some S-Bahn lines, continue to run.
In Canada, about 80 unionized drivers at Sturgeon Falls–based Alouette Bus Lines remain on strike in the North Bay, Ontario, area, while the company uses replacement workers to run some school routes. The walkout since Monday initially left parents of about 2,000 students in North Bay, West Nipissing and Parry Sound seeking alternatives, the local consortium said. In Cyprus, four unions at the Electricity Authority staged a two-hour warning strike Friday morning, closing customer service centers and offices islandwide over unresolved labor issues and sector concerns.