A major strike in Germany, dubbed the "mega strike", began today to paralyze traffic there as unions demanded higher wages due to inflation.
Airport, rail, maritime freight, highway and local transport workers have called for a 24-hour strike from midnight on Sunday.
Such a warning strike was called by two large unions, the Union of Railway Workers and Transport Employees (EVG) and the Service Union Verdi.
The protests are part of growing social tensions in Germany, where more and more strikes have been organized in schools, hospitals, and the Post Office since the beginning of the year.
Unlike countries such as France, such a unique protest that brings together the EVG and Verdi unions with a large number of members is an extremely rare occurrence in Germany.
This "mega strike", as the German media has already called it, affects a country where prices have been seriously increased in the last year, and inflation has reached 8,7 percent.
The unions are demanding a salary increase of more than 10 percent.
They are also looking for better working conditions for around 2,7 million employees in the public sector and transport activities. A new round of negotiations begins today.
Employers (federal states, municipalities, public companies) propose a five percent increase and two one-time payments of 1.000 and 1.500 euros.
The EVG and Verdi unions expect a massive response for the strike. The Deutsche Bahn Railway has decided to completely cancel traffic on major lines, warning that there will be major disruptions on regional lines as well.
The Association of German Airports (DAV) condemned the strategy of escalating strikes on the model of France, where there have been protests against judicial reform for days.
"It's better that nothing moves in Germany for one day and then an acceptable offer is reached, than that it doesn't work and then the fight for workers' rights drags on for weeks where the citizens will be even more severely affected," said union president Verdi Frank Verneke, reports Deutsche Welle.
One poll shows that 55 percent of citizens support the strike.
It was announced that it will last exactly one day, and that everything will be back to normal from Tuesday.
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