#319: BVG not improving, party boat collapse, kita strike (again)

Plus some thoughts on national politics

They’re back! Fridays for Future hit the roads again Friday, trying to get politicians to finally, finally do something about the climate. Photo: Stefan Müller via CC

Hey 20 Percent!

I try not to talk about nationwide news here but sometimes it’s unavoidable: Germany, like the US, is in the throes of an election campaign. A subtle one.

No I’m not talking about the state-level elections in Brandenburg this weekend (the center-left SPD is deadlocked in polls with the anti-immigrant AfD), though it would be the impetus.

There is a subtle campaign for a replacement to Germany’s current coalition, known as the traffic-light coalition. The AfD’s not-so-surprising successes in the past two state elections (Thuringia and Saxony) has the coalition on the ropes and a vote-of-confidence could be posed for Chancellor Olaf Scholz if the AfD wins big in Brandenburg Sunday.

Friedrich Merz, the patriarch of the conservative CDU, this summer started acting very chancellor-like, proposing harsh immigration legislation, most of which would be illegal but which was good for getting headlines. You even strongarmed an immigration meeting with the chancellor. You know, campaigning.

The vote of confidence became more real in the past day when FDP-head Christian Lindner began hinting that change may be coming. The ostensibly libertarian (or liberal for you Europeans) FDP are a thorny part of the current coalition. The FDP aren’t actually classic liberals — they’re just conservatives like the CDU but with nicer suits and all-night parties.

The theory is that the current government would lose a no-confidence vote and next September’s national elections would be moved up, with the conservative CDU likely the big winner. The question then would just be who they would govern with to get Merz as chancellor — would they have enough votes to just link with their little brother, the FDP, or would the CDU have to buddy up with a humbled version of Scholz’s SPD?

It’s too early to tell — so have a good weekend and we’ll keep an eye on the Brandenburg election on for you.

Andrew

Retirement replacement service

Several weeks ago public transport provider BVG introduced less-frequent schedules on some subways in hopes of improving service reliability. Did you notice any improvement? You’re not the only one who didn’t. The BVG’s next BIG IDEA® to improve service is to call retired subway drivers out of retirement to fill holes in the schedule and get you to work on time, says Tagesspiegel (paywall). It’s too early to tell if the plan is working. BVG was also forced to rescind a new schedule that added night shifts and shorter breaks after about 50 subway drivers held a sick-out protest Sunday. The problem: BVG’s fleet is too old and there aren’t enough drivers nor personnel to repair the retirement-age trains.

You wanted to work from home anyway

It’s hard enough being a parent but life for Berliners with kids in state-run daycares is about the get that much harder — union Verdi Friday voted for an unlimited strike to convince Berlin to negotiate a better labor contract, according to the Morgenpost . The union wants more planning hours and fewer kids-per-teacher. Berlin says it’s unable to negotiate directly with daycares because they’re part of a state-wide labor deal with other vocations. However, only about 10% of the 2,900 daycares in Berlin are public — most are run privately (ours was parent-run, which was a special kind of entitlement hell😡).

Injuries after roof collapse

Police are considering charges of negligence after the roof on a floating gallery and event space collapsed Tuesday evening, injuring 12, according to RBB. The gallery, Hošek Contemporary, was the site of a concert when attendees reportedly lounged on a metal roof over the former cargo ship. The roof then collapsed onto the concert below, leading to the injuries — emergency personnel even called in a rescue helicopter. The gallery on Fischerinsel is in the MS Heimatland, a freighter built in 1910.

Germany-wide news

🌊 Watergate closing, but doesn’t just whine about rent prices

💽 Intel delays €10b chip plant in Magdeburg (maybe permanently?)

🪖 German soldiers invade Poland … to help

💥 Bizarre bomb attacks in Cologne

Factoid

Crazy kids section. Photo: Amerika Gedenkbibliothek / Vincent Mosch

The Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (the American memorial library) opened today in 1954. The Kreuzberg library was a gift from the US to then-West Berlin as a symbol for the freedom of education and expression after the 1949 Soviet blockade of Berlin. I always wondered why it was called that.