Warning strike at insurance companies: Hanover in a state of emergency!

Warning strike at insurance companies: Hanover in a state of emergency!

Today, May 15, 2025, warning strikes in the insurance industry are taking place in several cities in northwest Germany. The focus of the work stoppages is in Hanover, where a central rally is planned for the morning. Other cities affected are Bremen, Braunschweig, Oldenburg, Göttingen, Hildesheim and Hameln. Overall, a large number of companies are taking part in the protests, including Allianz, HDI, VGH, R+V, Debeka and VHV. These actions are in the context of nationwide collective bargaining, which is important for over 160,000 employees in the private insurance industry.

The ver.di union is demanding a salary increase of 12 percent as well as higher supplements and travel allowances for employees. The employers' association AGV recently made an offer of 8.63 percent salary increase over a period of 35 months, which is considered inadequate. This is the first warning strike in the current collective bargaining round for employees in Lower Saxony and Bremen. Another meeting for the third round of negotiations will take place on May 23 in Düsseldorf to continue discussions on salary demands. How cash-online.de reports, ver.di wants to increase the pressure on employers.

Disappointment with offers from employers

The second round of collective bargaining took place in Frankfurt am Main, where the ver.di union reacted with disappointment to the insurance companies' offer. Verdi negotiator Martina Grundler criticized the fact that the proposal does not compensate for the loss of income due to inflation and is viewed as inadequate. In addition to the requested salary increase of 12 percent, ver.di is also demanding disproportionate increases for lower wage groups as well as an increase in training pay by 250 euros and the permanent employment of trainees. The AGV offer, on the other hand, provides for an initial increase of just 3.6 percent in the first year. This is not enough for the employees and ver.di plans to react to the inadequate offers with warning strikes verdi.de reported.

Insurance industry employees have already drawn attention to their demands through creative campaigns and high levels of participation. The pressure on employers is to be increased further in the coming days in order to steer the negotiations in a positive direction and to enforce the employees' legitimate demands.