Employees went on strike – No “ZDF morning magazine”, even “today” was in danger
Not on the air on Tuesday: Andreas Wunn and Dunja Hayali, moderators of the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”
Source: picture alliance/dpa/Retouching de Luxe/ZDF
No “MoMa” on Tuesday morning, instead ZDF broadcast recordings of old programs: Verdi and DJV had called for strikes. The broadcaster was apparently surprised by the action – other formats were also affected by the walkout.
FFor ZDF viewers on Tuesday morning it was a little different than usual, the explanation came a little later via Twitter: “Our morning magazine is currently on strike and has to be cancelled,” said the public broadcaster in Mainz on the internet with.
Instead of a current “ZDF morning magazine”, both stations showed recordings of previous programs. Also presenter Dunja Hayali reported on social media to say: “The #moma is canceled today – warning strike. See you tomorrow,” she tweeted.
A little later, ZDF commented in more detail, which had apparently been surprised by the action. The public broadcaster in Mainz announced that “without prior notice” unions had been on strike since the early morning. “As a result, the “ZDF morning magazine” could not be broadcast. The editions of the “heute” programs are also affected.”
As the broadcaster announced when asked by the epd press service, a number of other TV programs were affected in the course of the morning. In addition to the “Morgenmagazin” it also hit “Volle Kanne” and “heute Xpress” as well as the Phoenix program “Phoenix vor Ort” at 8.30 a.m.
As the association of radio, film and television workers at ZDF (VRFF-ZDF) announced on its website, the warning strike was organized together with the German Association of Journalists and the Verdi service union. The unions are currently negotiating with ZDF about a new collective agreement that will apply retrospectively from July 2022.
This time the ZDF employees in Mainz, Düsseldorf, Berlin and those who work at the ARD-ZDF joint program Phoenix in Bonn were called to the warning strike. Specifically, the employees wanted to stop their work between 3:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., which apparently happened. The reason for the protest was that “nothing was really moving” in the salary negotiations at ZDF, it said.
Salaries have been negotiated three times so far
Recently, there have been wage conflicts in many public media companies, and agreements have already been reached between unions and ARD companies. At ZDF, the next round of negotiations is planned for December 21, according to ZDF information. According to the German Association of Journalists (DJV), there have been three rounds of negotiations so far.
The “ZDF-Morgenmagazin” runs in weekly alternation with the so-called MoMa of the ARD. The three-and-a-half-hour program can usually be seen Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on the first and second channels. It was initially unclear whether the failure of the “heute” format would also affect the evening programs (7 p.m. and 9.45 p.m., “heute Journal”). Later in the morning, however, the all-clear was given. From Mainz it said: “With the strike at 10:30 a.m., all messages can be sent as planned, including the “Today” program at 12 p.m. and all after that.”