I am Felicitas.
I am part of the campaign. #wedrivetogether.
Matthias Borek, 38 years old,
BVG employee and Ver.di official.
Exactly.
What is #WirFahren together?
#WirFahrenZusammen is a campaign,
in which climate activists
and employees from the local transport companies join forces
and jointly demand massive investment in public transport,
in the employees, in the passengers,
but above all in the climate.
For a social, ecological and fair mobility transition
we need these three things that interlock.
And of course it also needs people, who drive the buses and trams.
That's why the working conditions
are essential for that a turnaround in transport can succeed.
That is why we have organised ourselves under the name
#WirFahrenZusammen together, to fight for this together
and to fight for it.
More or less already to the TVN 2020 campaign
a co-operation was cooperation was sought.
Due to the pandemic the high protective measures
did not materialise materialised,
so that we can now return to the campaign TVN 2024 the partnership
together, strengthen it and organise targeted action days.
In 2020 there was a initial networking
and in the first step we have now simply revived it again,
met for the first time last autumn for the first time last autumn
with around 60 climate activists and employees
and have made the first plan how it could work,
how a co-operation could look like,
have then transferred to the locations
and simply started running on site
in the different cities,
have held talks, approached the employees.
We spent a lot of time at depots,
also got a guided tour a guided tour of the depot.
We once travelled with a with a bus driver,
got to know a bit got to know the daily work routine
and at the end they always the invitation was always extended,
to make common cause now.
And then it went not yet directly
continued with the big picture, but then it first translated itself
into concrete solidarity experiences on the ground.
Especially in the cities, where the employees,
this year in the public sector has also gone on strike this year.
Göttingen, for example, was one such city, where the climate activists on the ground
organised a town meeting,
because the employees there said: "All well and good,
but if they go on strike, then everyone is against us in the end."
And accordingly said the climate movement on the ground:
OK, that's a gap, that we can fill.
So they organized a town meeting.
200 people came, and the bus drivers
spoke themselves.
Talked about themselves and their working conditions.
And that is concrete attempts,
to build up solidarity in the city.
That's what has happened so far.
And then came the grand finale on 3 March
where we for the very first time
took to the streets together, in 40 cities.
I have
a favourite saying in the climate movement
that's: "Strike at school, university and work".
And I would say on 3 March
this actually came true for the very first time.
In Cologne, for example, 300 employees took part in the global climate strike
and it was definitely a goosebump moment.
But that was just the beginning and now we're just getting started
to continue to build the alliances and, in the best case, paralyse the country together in 2024.
We as transport companies do nothing else than
relieve the cities, offer local transport services
getting people from A to B and increase mobility.
The co-operation came about by chance.
So why shouldn't transport companies
support climate policy goals?
And so we support the co-operation
with Fridays4Future and #WeDriveTogether.
And this could ultimately better the working conditions
here at the transport companies big time.
In the spring of 2024 over 80,000 employees
will be in the industrial dispute for better working conditions.
And it is absolutely clear that this is also our concern
as a climate movement,
because better working conditions are the basis for better public ransport.
78,000 bus drivers are missing in Germany.
The profession is not particularly attractive.
It starts with the working conditions,
with the working time models and continues with pay.
- That is of course also a reason, but it's not the main reason.-
The main reason is the working conditions
and the other areas: transport, logistics, traffic,
steal our colleagues, because they simply offer better working conditions.
The demands are, for example with us, especially in Berlin:
Turning times that are realistic.
So a minimum turnaround time of about ten minutes.
We want to have a toilet for employees at each terminus.
We need realistic journey times, i.e. journey times,
that are not planned at the green table, but actually
also realisable under real conditions.
We need new working time models, we need support
for work and family in the company.
At the same time, however we need massive investment in public transport.
And that too we want to fight for
tgether with the workers.
And I always imagine this beautiful picture,
that in spring 2024 have 80,000 employees,
who go into the disputes for better working conditions
and we as a climate movement too are on the streets with 80,000 people.
With people from civil society, with people from universities, schools.
And so on and so forth.
And then we become a united strike movement that says:
we are fighting for political room for manoeuvre for collective bargaining
and for political room for manoeuvre for a turnaround in transport.
And of course that's what it's all about, to build on this now.
We are currently in the preparation and planning phase
and from autumn onwards we will start with joint activities.
The starting signal is the next global climate strike on 15 September.
And I would say
it is important that all possible people are involved
and say: "We seriously want to build this strike movement".
For that we need all the people.
And that's why everyone is cordially invited,
to become part of #WeDriveTogether.
The good thing is,
that almost everywhere where there is public transport, there is also a group.
So just join the local groups
and let's make common cause together.
I am myself on the streets
as a climate activist since 2019,
I have attended demonstrations, climate strikes and many actions.
And I think we have appealed an incredible amount,
We mobilised a lot.
In 2019, we were on the streets with 1.4 million people
and focused a lot on shaking people up.
And the conclusion we can now draw
is a bit sobering,
because everyone is talking about climate protection and that we need more of it,
and at the same time there has been no real political movement in this direction.
You can see that especially
in transport policy, where the interests
primarily lie with the car industry
and for public transport there is often no money.
And it's very clear
that it is a question of political prioritisation
and also a question of the social balance of power.
And if we seriously want to shift that, then it's not enough,
if we continue to try to
abstractly getting people on the streets for more climate action.
It's always the same people,
who stand on the street and say Climate action is needed,
but we have to seriously organise majorities.
And we need alliances above all.
We need to form alliances with people who are perhaps not yet
a part of the climate movement
but who share a fundamental same interest with us.
And I believe that with #wedrivetogether we beginn
doing exactly this and see how that can work.
What we combine there
are our two means of power, i.e. the workers' power
and our social power as climate movement
and use both of them.
The important thing is,
that we have no illusions, that it will be easy.
and that it will always be super easy
and people come by themselves and we all get on really well.
It's really important that we fight for this co-operation,
without thinking that it will be easy, and that we try,
to explore the 90% that connects us instead of the 10% that divides us.
And then I think we'll have something to gain.