Following a series of strikes in June 2024 by workers at container terminals in Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Brake, and Emden, Ver.di is intensifying its mobilization efforts, with the possibility of new strikes. This action is part of the broader dispute over the employment contract affecting approximately 11,500 workers in the North Sea ports. Ver.di rejected two proposals from the employers' association Zds and decided on August 23, 2024, to enter a fourth phase of negotiations.
During the first phase of negotiations in Bremen, Zds presented a proposal with two options. The first option, with a 12-month contract duration, included a tax-free inflation compensation bonus of 1,000 euros, followed by an hourly wage increase of 0.95 euros starting January 1, 2025. It also proposed increased shift allowances and an annual holiday allowance increase of 480 euros. The second option, with a 16-month contract duration, offered a 1,400-euro inflation compensation bonus. From January 1, 2025, the hourly wage would increase by 1.15 euros, along with the same increases in shift and holiday allowances as in the first option.
Subsequently, Zds improved its offer with higher wage increases, but Ver.di negotiators deemed it insufficient to recover the workers' lost purchasing power and therefore rejected it. The union is demanding an hourly wage increase of three euros starting June 1, 2024, along with corresponding increases in shift premiums, including compensation for the lack of increase in shift bonuses in the 2022 collective agreement, with a collective agreement duration of 12 months.
