1 May – International Workers’ Rights Day: A reminder of Europe’s workers and their demands
Members of a labour union on strike in Germany. Photo credit: Andreas Lehner, flickr, 2014
4 May 2023
Recent labour-related agitation in Europe has shown that the times in which employers could dictate wages and working conditions are over. Logistic companies continue to be directly affected by these developments, a trend that we expect to continue in the short term of the next 1-3 years.
By Marius Merz, LandRisk Junior analyst
Zooming in on recent labour-related activism in France and Germany, two key economic countries in Europe, emphasises how labour unions and ordinary workers have gained increasing power in their quest to achieve higher wages and better working conditions. As France is known for its vibrant and lively strike culture, the French government’s recently introduced pension reform was met with fierce opposition. Workers from all around the country united in their resistance against the shortened retirement period, causing weeks of nationwide and still ongoing unrest. On 07 March 2023, various French worker unions launched their first nationwide protest with the aim of bringing the French economy to a standstill. In the weeks that followed, activity at French ports was drastically reduced, public transportation operations—including bus, tram, metro, airplane, and train networks—were severely disrupted, and protesters frequently blocked major industrial parks, ring roads, and motorways, affecting logistics companies' daily business operations.
Recent strike actions in Germany demonstrate that the rise in labour-related activism in Europe does not just take place after significant political decisions that directly affect working conditions, as it did in France. Contrarily, more than 50,000 new members joined ver.di, one of Germany’s largest labour unions, merely in the months of January and February 2023, indicating that many workers currently perceive a threat to their economic well-being. German employees have been participating in a variety of strikes for weeks to voice their concerns, ranging from protests in the transportation industry to staff in hospitals, sewage treatment plants, day-care facilities, or garbage collectors. The biggest strike took place on 27 March 2023, where workers in the transport sector went on a nationwide strike, paralysing traffic all around the country. Given Germany's generally conservative strike culture, the significance of this incident becomes clear when one considers that the last coordinated strikes in German history occurred at the beginning of 1990, more than 30 years ago.
According to forecasts from economic research institutes, Europe’s currently rough economic situation will normalise again from 2024 or 2025. This means that whilst we can expect labour-related strike action to continue in the short term of 1-3 years, the observed trend of industrial action is likely to decrease after that, as the European economy recovers from the recent crises. It goes without saying that this assessment entirely depends on the geopolitical developments in the world as well as Europe. A new pandemic or further escalations in the Ukraine war may downplay the European economy and thus fuel the continuation of workers’ strikes in the mid-term.
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