NEWS FROM BERLIN
BVG & ver.di argue over pay: strike on the horizon
Public transportation in Berlin could see major disruption at the start of 2025, as pay negotiations between BVG, the city’s transport association, and union ver.di start to ramp up before they have even begun. According to the Berliner Zeitung, ver.di said it was impossible to rule out strikes in the new year. On January 15 BVG and ver.di will sit down to hammer out the details of collective bargaining agreements for the 16,000 employees represented by the union. According to ver.di negotiator, Jeremy Arndt, the wage disputes are as intense as they were leading up to the strike in 2008, when walkouts lasted 6 weeks. Source: iamexpat
NEWS FROM GERMANY
Newspaper article by Musk on AfD goes on making waves
Following the publication of a guest article by billionaire Elon Musk in the newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” (WamS) with an election appeal for the right-wing populist and in some cases far-right party AfD, Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) have sharply criticised the publishing. “The fact that the Springer publishing house is offering Elon Musk an official platform to advertise for the AfD is shameful and dangerous,” affirmed SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch. The CDU and CSU candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, also sharply criticised Musk’s election appeal for the AfD. The German Journalists‘Association (DJV) protested too against the “free pass given to Musk by the editors of Die Welt’’. Source: dw
AfD strengths contacts with Swiss right-wing extremists
Several AfD members are said to have met with members of the far-right group “Junge Tat” from Switzerland, including Roger Beckamp, member of the Bundestag, and Lena Kotré, member of the state parliament. This is the result of research by the Correctiv network. The meeting is further “proof of the AfD’s antagonism to the constitution and its close and international links to the extra-parliamentary far-right underground”, affirmed Matthias Quent, Professor of Sociology at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences and founding director of the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society in Jena. Source: nd
2024 was too warm and too wet
The year 2024 was the warmest year since comprehensive measurements began in 1881, as the German Weather Service (DWD) realised. “What is particularly alarming is that 2024 exceeded the previous year by an extraordinary 0.3 degrees,” said Uwe Kirsche, press spokesperson for the DWD. “This is accelerated climate change.” At the same time, 2024 was too wet. According to initial evaluations by the DWD, 903 litres per square metre of precipitation fell in 2024. The average reference period from 1991 to 2020 is 791 litres. The duration of sunshine also exceeded its target from the period from 1961 to 1990, being just under 1,700 hours (target was 1,544 hours). Source: tagesschau
MPs demand consequences after Magdeburg attack
Following the deadly attack in Magdeburg, the Greens in the Bundestag called for someone to take responsibility for the alleged failure of the authorities. “I think that political responsibility must be taken at the end of such an event,” said Green Party interior expert Konstantin von Notz before a special session of the Bundestag’s Committee on Internal Affairs in Berlin. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) also answered the committee’s questions. At the meeting, which unusually took place between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the MPs wanted to uncover possible mishaps at the security authorities. Source: t-online
