By Ethan Huff

Public transportation in Germany is about to come to a grinding halt as the nation’s Verdi union, as well as the railway and transport union EVG, ready to unleash “paralyzing strikes,” to quote one news source, on the country’s airports and railways.

What began as a “winter of discontent” is now morphing into a “spring of discontent” as many nations across Europe, including not just Germany but also France and Greece, spiral into unrest over the collapsing global economy.

Verdi is negotiating on behalf of 2.5 million public sector workers in Germany who work at airports and other public transport hubs for higher wages amid persistent inflationary pressures. EVG, meanwhile, aims to help 230,000 employees at railway company Deutsch Bahn and bus companies find similar relief.

All of this is happening as Europe’s largest economy also plunges into a recession, which is looking more and more like it will soon become a depression that is global in nature.

“German economic activity will probably fall again in the current quarter,” said Bundesbank, citing a 0.4 percent contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2022. “However, the decline is likely to be less than in the final quarter of 2022.”

(Related: Last fall, more than 70,000 protesters swarmed Prague to make their voices heard about the energy crisis.)

The global economy is crumbling in a perfect storm scenario

The claim is that two consecutive quarters of negative growth is indicative of a recession, though that definition seems to be constantly changing in order to kick the recession can down the road. Coupled with crippling inflation, the average person’s standard of living is declining – and people are getting restless and upset about it.

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