“We are fighting for good education,” a speaker shouted again and again from the loudspeaker truck across the ice-cold Hermannplatz on Thursday morning. Many of the cheerful demonstrators wore red GEW high-visibility vests and made a lot of noise with whistles and rattles. Several banners called for more money for education instead of rearmament.
According to GEW, the 3,500 participants gathered on the occasion of their nationwide strike day in the education sector. They were reinforced in Berlin by delegations from Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Judith was there from Kreuzberg. The trainee teacher at a primary school finds the conditions at schools in Berlin “totally terrible”. Savings are being made everywhere “and at the same time money is being wasted on other things. I don’t see that, because education is a basic right for everyone.” Judith calls for “not an upgrade, but smaller classes, more staff, multi-professional teams, better equipment in schools and more money for educators.”
Berlin was one of the central rally locations on the day of the strike
The GEW negotiates on behalf of around 2.6 million state employees, around half of whom work in the education sector, at schools, universities and state daycare centers – i.e. teachers, educators, university lecturers and student employees. This includes 245,000 school employees and 684,000 civil servants who are not allowed to strike. For these, the GEW is calling for a fair conclusion in the collective agreement of the states (TV-L), which affects the entire public service. Specifically, they are demanding 7 percent more salary, at least an additional 300 euros per month.
No binding offer yet
Since the employers of the Collective Bargaining Association of German States (TdL) did not submit a binding offer in the second round of collective bargaining in Potsdam in mid-January, the GEW called for a nationwide “strike day for education”. Berlin was one of the central rally locations, with other rallies taking place in Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig and Mannheim. According to GEW information, a total of almost 12,000 people took part, the largest being the rallies in Leipzig and Berlin.
At the Kottbusser Tor the crowd got louder and the music got better, with songs by Deichkind (“Work is annoying” and “Bück dich hoch”). At the end point, the mirror-smooth Oranienplatz, there was coffee and mulled wine as well as a speech by GEW federal chairwoman Maike Finnern. Last week’s strikes were “a strong sign,” said Finnern in her lengthy speech. “You are the backbone of the education system,” she called out to the crowd at the end; “You are the backbone of our democracy!”
The GEW state chairman Gökhan Akgün was more combative in his speech. Subsidies for private schools, but savings on school buildings, “that’s class warfare from above, and we won’t just accept it. We won’t allow education to be further destroyed,” he shouted to cheers.
We have been calling for smaller classes for many years
Gökhan Akgün, GEW
“We didn’t choose the Brandenburg Gate, but rather the Kottbusser Tor. Because every second child in the area is affected by poverty,” Akgün then told the taz: educational equality must be fought for. The current strike is not simply about a better salary, says Akgün, but the GEW is combining its collective bargaining campaign with social demands: “We have been demanding smaller classes for many years so that our colleagues have more time for the children and can respond to them. We demand urgent relief for disadvantaged schools and disadvantaged daycare centers. We demand real strategies to combat child poverty. We want the schools to be better equipped.”
“We are told that we have to save on education. We have to save on social issues. We have high costs for social spending and for refugees,” said Akgün. But tax audits of large companies in Berlin last year led to additional demands totaling 345 million euros. For Akgün it is clear: “The money is there, don’t take the money from the children, not from the employees, not from social projects, not from clubs or educational institutions. Take the money from those who are accumulating billions, crisis profiteers, heirs to billions, they have really cashed in in recent times. Coming up with the idea of wanting to slim down the welfare state or wanting to cut back on education, these are wrong priorities that will lead to social conflicts becoming even worse will be.”
The third round of negotiations is planned for February 11th to 13th in Potsdam. If there is no result, the strike should continue.