For 2.5 weeks now, a small but determined section of the Hagenbeck zoo has been on strike for a collective agreement and for uniform working conditions. The colleagues on strike at the zoo are thus defying the threats of managing director Dirk Albrecht, who even repeatedly announced that he would initiate criminal proceedings against the employees and the union because they would endanger animal welfare with their strike.

The strike at the zoo, even though small, already has an impact in Hamburg, is repeatedly a topic in the local news and has now also been put on the agenda of the Hamburg Senate. And even the Senate had to state that, contrary to the claims of the zoo's management, there is no danger whatsoever to the animals. The fact that this statement even comes from the Hamburg Senate clearly shows that Dirk Albrecht's claims are nothing but lies and attempts to denounce and delegitimise the strike.

The management still refuses to talk to the trade union for construction, agriculture and the environment (IG BAU) and the workers, and the strike has not changed this. This is certainly also due to the fact that the union has not managed to win a majority among the employees of the zoo for the strike, although a good 90 percent of colleagues voted in favor of the strike in the strike ballot. However, the prospects of the strike were dampened from the outset by the IG BAU itself, which wanted to use an emergency service instead of a consistent strike. This means that instead of stopping work altogether, the colleagues simply work less, but still do the least that is necessary for the operation of the zoo. That makes the colleagues in their strike a toothless tiger and takes the largest means of pressure. Before the strike is not consistently led, one cannot expect that Dirk Albrecht and Konsorten agree to the demands, since they do not have to.