In Bonn, bus and train drivers of the Bonn Stadtwerke company will go on strike again this Thursday from the beginning to the end of operations. The trade union Verdi announced that it assumed that buses and trains would remain in the depots. Employees of the Cologne public transport company (KVB), which operates on the light rail lines 16 and 18 between Bonn and Cologne, are also taking part. The transport companies in the surrounding area, RSVG and RVK, have not yet announced that their employees will take part in the strikes.

Commuters throughout NRW must be prepared for obstacles on their way to work. S-Bahn and regional transport will not be affected. The union is reacting to the fact that the employers' side has not yet submitted an offer to the demand by Verdi to conclude nationwide framework collective agreements. This Wednesday, Verdi will also continue warning strikes in the public sector to demand salary improvements for federal and local government employees. Employees of the Bonn LVR clinic, the municipal utility subsidiaries Energie and Wasser as well as Bonn-Netz and the waste disposal company Bonnorange are called on to strike.

In addition, work stoppages in passenger handling at Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf airports are threatened during the autumn holidays. Verdi announced that the union would call for warning strikes by the employees of the passenger handling company Aviation Handling Services (AHS) at short notice. "Flight cancellations and delays are likely", she warned. The company spoke of an "illegal warning strike“.

Only last Tuesday the employees in the local transport sector had gone on strike. There were hardly any buses operating in Bonn and the region.

Original text: Philipp Königs, dpa

Translation: Mareike Graepel