Waste Workers Strike Over 400-Euro Pay Demand as German Towns Lurch Toward 30-Billion-Euro Deficit
23.06.2026 - 02:42:01 | boerse-global.de
A pay gap of up to 1,000 euros a month between workers at a state-owned waste disposal company and their public-sector counterparts has fuelled a strike that entered its 17th day on Monday. More than 70 of the 105 employees at Ostmecklenburgisch-Vorpommersche Verwertungs- und Deponiegesellschaft (OVVD) downed tools at five sites, according to the Verdi union.
The workers are demanding a 400-euro monthly raise. OVVD, though held by the public hand, pays wages based on the tariff of its private subsidiary ABG, leaving salaries far below the public-sector scale. Management offered 120 euros more in the pay table plus a one-off payment – a proposal the workforce rejected. Verdi negotiator Mario Klepp called the gap “unacceptable.” The company insists refuse collection remains secure for now.
The labour action in Neubrandenburg unfolded as part of a nationwide “Day of Municipalities,” drawing attention to cities and districts buckling under financial strain. The German Association of Cities estimates the collective deficit for 2025 will reach nearly 30 billion euros. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, local authorities pile on an additional 10 million euros of debt every week.
Mayors in Wismar and Nordwestmecklenburg staged symbolic protests. District Administrator Tino Schomann called for structural reform: “Whoever orders tasks must also pay for them.” In Munich, Mayor Dominik Krause drained the Fischbrunnen fountain on Marienplatz as a symbol of empty coffers. The irony was sharpest in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district: the very Kreistag in front of which the waste workers demonstrated is running a 64.2-million-euro deficit – yet its factions voted against reducing their own expense allowances.
While politicians hesitate, households face rising bills. A family of four now pays on average 351 euros per year for waste collection – 13 percent more than four years ago. The range is staggering: 163 euros in Flensburg versus nearly 536 euros in Dortmund.
The fight for fair wages is not confined to Germany. In Brazil, waste workers and cleaners launched an indefinite national strike, demanding a minimum wage of 3,036 reais, improved conditions, and a special retirement scheme.
A possible breakthrough could come on June 25, when Germany’s state premiers meet Chancellor Merz to discuss municipal financing and reimbursement of social and asylum costs. Whether that will ease a crisis that has pushed sanitation workers onto the picket line remains an open question.
