(New, among other things, information on the right to strike in France)

BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Ahead of a major day of warning strikes in public transport in Germany, Germany's employers are accusing the unions of acting excessively. "Those who act in this way act disproportionately and endanger acceptance for the right to strike," Steffen Kampeter, chief executive of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Berlin. The head of the rail union EVG, Martin Burkert, defended the joint warning strike with Verdi and stressed to handle the right to strike responsibly: "No, we do not exaggerate," Burkert said on Friday.

This Monday, traffic is to be comprehensively paralyzed. The unprecedented warning strike includes long-distance, regional and suburban rail traffic, local public transport many German airports, waterways and ports, as well as highways. The Railway and Transport Union (EVG) and Verdi are fighting for more income in different collective bargaining rounds.

Freight forwarders and retailers are demanding more flexibility for transports already on weekends. The chief executive of the HDE trade association, Stefan Genth, said, "Compared to the sometimes dramatic situation just at the beginning of the pandemic, the effects of the upcoming strike are a manageable challenge." Nevertheless, it would make sense to lift the Sunday driving ban for this weekend and allow logistics to bring forward some transports. The logistics industry warned of "supply chaos" and also called for the Sunday truck driving ban to be lifted in Bild.

The airline association Barig criticized the unions' actions as "irresponsible." Lufthansa passengers must already prepare for considerable cancellations on Sunday. At Munich Airport, there will already be no Lufthansa flights on that day - apart from humanitarian flights - the airline announced. In addition, Germany's largest airport, Frankfurt, will be closed on Monday.

The president of the Federation of Municipal Employers' Associations, Karin Welge, called on the unions to show constructive signs for the third round of collective bargaining in the public service of municipalities and the federal government, which begins on Monday - in addition to the collective bargaining talks at the railroad decisive background for the warning strikes. "The unions should be careful not to overreach," Welge said.

Kampeter warned that the fight for members should not radicalize collective bargaining autonomy in Germany. "A look at France shows where it leads when you go off the rails." In France, strikes are comparatively frequent - most recently particularly fierce against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform.

The EVG leader said of the right to strike, "it's a sharp sword that we also handle very responsibly." In Germany, he said, there are few strike days compared to other countries. In France, it's a matter of political strikes with political demands, something that doesn't exist in Germany, the head of the rail and transport union (EVG) told Deutschlandfunk radio. The wage dispute between EVG and Verdi is about demands for pay and collective agreements. Referring to the joint warning strike with Verdi, Burkert called it "certainly historic that we have the momentum at the same time that we are in difficult collective bargaining."

In Germany, the right to form unions is enshrined in the Basic Law, which also provides special protection for labor disputes. In France, strikes have a different status than in Germany and take place more frequently. The right to strike is more liberal: Strikes do not only take place in the context of collective bargaining, and often they are about political goals. Unlike in Germany, there are also numerous highly political directional unions that vie for influence and increasingly rely on the power of the streets.

The strong participation in strikes and protests, and also the somewhat more militant attitude in France, is also due to the fact that the country has centuries of experience that social movements can be successful. Conflict has a greater impact on political discourse and also on the relationship between employers and employees.

What is unusual about the planned warning strike day by EVG and Verdi is that it overlaps with negotiations - namely the third round for the 2.5 million employees of the federal and local governments, which begins in Potsdam. Legally, however, the procedure is possible, as Thorsten Schulten of the WSI Institute of the Hans Böckler Foundation, which is close to the trade unions, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Because the peace obligation ended with the expiration of the previous collective agreement. According to Schulten, nothing stands in the way of a large-scale warning strike, including the overlapping of two collective bargaining areas. The employers see the legal limits at least exhausted in the comprehensive strike.

Kampeter criticized: "Large-scale strikes that are intended to paralyze a country are not warning strikes." The head of the German Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Markus Jerger, said, "Companies and the population must not be held hostage for demands that are not expedient in the current economic situation."

Standstill is to prevail as a result of the comprehensive warning strike on Monday probably almost everywhere in public transport. The railroad will stop all long-distance traffic. Also in the regional traffic "largely no train will run". Many airports are affected - for example, Frankfurt and Munich airports. In seven German states, local transport is to come to a standstill. Important waterways are also to go on strike./bw/hrz/maa/rbo/mar/hme/sl/DP/mis