Protest actions planned for Advent
Union threatens warning strikes at fast food chains
03.12.2024Reading time: 2 min.
There have been negotiations with the companies since July – but without success. The union therefore wants to cause another stir in the run-up to Christmas.
the Food-Pleasure-Gastronomy Union (NGG) has again called for warning strikes and protest actions in the catering sector in the coming weeks. The representatives of companies such as McDonald’s, Nordsee and Burgerking had increased their “original meager offer, which was around 13 euros per hour in the bottom three tariff groups, by a full five cents,” criticized the NGG on Monday evening. The continued very long term of the offer is also unacceptable.
NGG negotiator Mark Baumeister explained that employers would gloss over previous and upcoming wage increases. “You talk about targeted wage increases of more than 20 percent between 2022 and 2027 and fail to mention that these are also a result of the fact that three collective bargaining groups have been overtaken by the statutory minimum wage.”
Collective bargaining has been going on as July.In September, the NGG called for the first warning strikes in companies. The employees have “taken to the streets all over Germany in recent months with loud protests.” This will now continue during Advent, explained Baumeister. “The employees at McDonald’s and Co expect real relief and significantly more.”
The NGG is demanding 15 euros per hour as a starting wage for the approximately 120,000 employees in the system catering sector as well as a clause that sets the minimum wage apart from the minimum wage should this be increased, as well as flat-rate increases of 500 euros for all employees from the second collective bargaining group and higher training allowances. In addition to the wage proposal, the union criticizes the employer’s previous offer and above all the very long term of three and a half years and suggests twelve months.