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I am Felicitas.

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I am part of the campaign.
#wedrivetogether.

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Matthias Borek, 38 years old,

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BVG employee and Ver.di official.

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Exactly.

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What is #WirFahren
together?

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#WirFahrenZusammen 
is a campaign,

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in which 
climate activists

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and employees from the 
local transport companies join forces

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and jointly demand massive 
investment in public transport,

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in the employees, 
in the passengers,

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but above all 
in the climate.

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For a social, ecological 
and fair mobility transition

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we need these three 
things that interlock.

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And of course it also needs people,
who drive the buses and trams.

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That's why 
the working conditions

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are essential for 
that a turnaround in transport can succeed.

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That is why we have 
organised ourselves under the name

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#WirFahrenZusammen together,
to fight for this together

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and to fight for it.

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More or less already 
to the TVN 2020 campaign

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a co-operation was
cooperation was sought.

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Due to the pandemic
the high protective measures

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did not materialise 
materialised,

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so that we can now return to the campaign
TVN 2024 the partnership

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together, strengthen it 
and organise targeted action days.

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In 2020 there was a 
initial networking

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and in the first step we have
now simply revived it again,

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met for the first time last autumn
for the first time last autumn

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with around 60 climate activists 
and employees

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and have made the first plan
how it could work,

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how a co-operation 
could look like,

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have then 
transferred to the locations

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and simply 
started running on site

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in the different cities,

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have held talks,
approached the employees.

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We spent a lot of time 
at depots,

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also got a guided tour 
a guided tour of the depot.

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We once travelled with a 
with a bus driver,

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got to know a bit 
got to know the daily work routine

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and at the end they always 
the invitation was always extended,

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to make common cause 
now.

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And then it went
not yet directly

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continued with the big picture, but
then it first translated itself

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into concrete solidarity
experiences on the ground.

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Especially in the cities,
where the employees,

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this year in the public sector 
has also gone on strike this year.

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Göttingen, for example, was one such city,
where the climate activists on the ground

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organised a town meeting,

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because the employees there
said: "All well and good,

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but if they go on strike, then 
everyone is against us in the end."

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And accordingly said the 
climate movement on the ground:

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OK, that's a gap,
that we can fill.

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So they organized 
a town meeting.

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200 people came,
and the bus drivers

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spoke themselves.

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Talked about themselves 
and their working conditions.

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And that is  
concrete attempts,

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to build up solidarity 
in the city.

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That's what 
has happened so far.

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And then came the 
grand finale on 3 March

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where we for the very first time

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took to the streets 
together, in 40 cities.

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I have

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a favourite saying
in the climate movement

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that's: "Strike at school,
university and work".

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And I would say 
on 3 March

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this actually came true 
for the very first time.

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In Cologne, for example, 300 employees 
took part in the global climate strike

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and it was definitely 
a goosebump moment.

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But that was just the beginning
and now we're just getting started

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to continue to build the alliances and, in the best case, paralyse the country together in 2024.

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We as transport companies do
nothing else than

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relieve the cities, offer 
local transport services

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getting people from A to B
and increase mobility.

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The co-operation
came about by chance.

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So why shouldn't 
transport companies

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support climate 
policy goals?

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And so we support
the co-operation

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with Fridays4Future and 
#WeDriveTogether.

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And this could ultimately 
better the working conditions

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here at the transport 
companies big time.

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In the spring of 2024
over 80,000 employees

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will be in the industrial dispute
for better working conditions.

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And it is absolutely clear 
that this is also our concern

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as a climate movement,

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because better working conditions
are the basis for better public ransport.

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78,000 bus drivers 
are missing in Germany.

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The profession is not 
particularly attractive.

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It starts with the 
working conditions,

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with the working time models
and continues with pay.

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- That is of course also a reason,
but it's not the main reason.-

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The main reason
is the working conditions

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and the other areas: transport, 
logistics, traffic,

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steal our colleagues, because they 
simply offer better working conditions.

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The demands are, for example 
with us, especially in Berlin:

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Turning times that 
are realistic.

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So a minimum turnaround time 
of about ten minutes.

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We want to have a toilet
for employees at each terminus.

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We need realistic journey 
times, i.e. journey times,

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that are not planned at the green 
table, but actually

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also realisable under 
real conditions.

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We need new working time 
models, we need support

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for work and family 
in the company.

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At the same time, however we need
massive investment in public transport.

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And that too 
we want to fight for

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tgether with the workers.

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And I always imagine
this beautiful picture,

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that in spring 2024
have 80,000 employees,

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who go into the disputes
for better working conditions

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and we as a climate movement too
are on the streets with 80,000 people.

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With people from civil society,
with people from universities, schools.

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And so on and so forth.

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And then we become a united
strike movement that says:

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we are fighting for political room 
for manoeuvre for collective bargaining

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and for political room for manoeuvre
for a turnaround in transport.

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And of course that's what it's 
all about, to build on this now.

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We are currently in the 
preparation and planning phase

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and from autumn onwards we will 
start with joint activities.

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The starting signal is the next 
global climate strike on 15 September.

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And I would say

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it is important that all 
possible people are involved

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and say: "We seriously want to
build this strike movement".

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For that we need 
all the people.

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And that's why 
everyone is cordially invited,

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to become part of 
#WeDriveTogether.

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The good thing is,

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that almost everywhere where there is 
public transport, there is also a group.

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So just join
the local groups

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and let's make 
common cause together.

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I am myself on the streets

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as a climate activist since 2019,

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I have attended demonstrations, 
climate strikes and many actions.

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And I think we have appealed 
an incredible amount,

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We mobilised a lot.

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In 2019, we were on the streets 
with 1.4 million people

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and focused a lot 
on shaking people up.

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And the conclusion 
we can now draw

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is a bit 
sobering,

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because everyone is talking about climate 
protection and that we need more of it,

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and at the same time there has been no 
real political movement in this direction.

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You can see that
especially

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in transport policy,
where the interests

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primarily lie with the 
car industry

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and for public transport
there is often no money.

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And it's 
very clear

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that it is a question of 
political prioritisation

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and also a question
of the social balance of power.

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And if we seriously want to shift 
that, then it's not enough,

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if we continue to try to

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abstractly getting people on the 
streets for more climate action.

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It's always 
the same people,

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who stand on the street and say
Climate action is needed,

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but we have to seriously 
organise majorities.

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And we need 
alliances above all.

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We need to form alliances with 
people who are perhaps not yet

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a part of the 
climate movement

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but who share a fundamental 
same interest with us.

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And I believe that with
#wedrivetogether we beginn

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doing exactly this
and see how that can work.

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What we combine there

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are our two means of power,
i.e. the workers' power

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and our social power 
as climate movement

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and use both of them.

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The important thing is,

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that we have no illusions,
that it will be easy.

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and that it will
always be super easy

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and people come by themselves
and we all get on really well.

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It's really important that we 
fight for this co-operation,

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without thinking that it will 
be easy, and that we try,

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to explore the 90% that connects us
instead of the 10% that divides us.

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And then I think we'll
have something to gain.