Among them were Lidia Wever and Eva Laubert. Like the other demonstrators on the day, the nursery school teachers from the city Monti-Haus kindergarten are demanding a six per cent wage increase for the coming two year collective agreement, or at least 200 Euros more pay. “Our work has changed dramatically over the years,” reasoned Laubert. The teachers now invest almost half of their time at work in development documentation, parent-teacher meetings and public relations work. The opening times are being extended more and more to meet the needs of parents.

Walter Engels was also on strike. “I am also concerned about the safety of our jobs,” explained the employee of the municipal waste disposal company Bonnorange. Markus Wissemann and Martin Thiemt waved flags of their trade union VD-Straßen, which, like Komba, is organised under the umbrella of the German Civil Servants’ Union (dbb). The road maintenance workers carry out their work near Wuppertal. “There is ever more work and fewer staff,” said Wissemann. After the protest march across Wilhelmsplatz to the Old Town Hall, Andreas Hensing, national chairman of Komba, also demanded that more trainees were employed and vacancies filled.

The strike temporarily restricted road traffic because of buses arriving along Kölnstraße. The public utilities company reported delays to trams and had to temporarily stop Line 61 and use replacement buses because of parked buses with demonstrators. According to the city, the Frankenbad did not open on Wednesday due to the strike and 13 municipal day care centres remained closed. The token strike did not affect citizens’ services; many officials work there who are not allowed to strike.

Original text: Philipp Königs. Translation: kc