The announced warning strike in German train becomes numerous on Wednesday and Thursday train cancellations in neighboring regional and long-distance traffic. Deutsche Bahn has one for the German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) strike. Emergency hours Configured for long-distance transport.
- The Austrian countryside Daytime traffic between Salzburg and Tyrol via Deutsches Eck is affected by restrictions not affectedsaid the ÖBB in response to a request from the APA.
- Also the Westbahn trains Munich to Vienna Westbahnhof will operate as scheduled and will not be affected by restrictions caused by strikes at Deutsche Bahn, the predominantly private Westbahn announced on Wednesday.
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In Germany Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced that the number of trips offered would be significantly reduced. “For these trips, DB uses longer trains with more seats to take as many passengers as possible to their destination. However, no guarantees can be given,” he said.
- According to ÖBB, it is expected no cross-border trains operate between Austria and Germany.
- Also the Night trains (Nightjet and EuroNight) are affected by the strike measures: there are cancellations and partial cancellations, night trains to and from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands cannot run on the night from Wednesday to Thursday, according to ÖBB.
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There are delays in German rail traffic on Wednesday and Thursday.
© Image: APA/dpa/Jörg Carstensen
The German union GDL has since Wednesday night 10pm to Thursday night 6pm to one 20 hour alert strike called. This means that union boss Claus Weselsky is already stepping up the pace of the collective bargaining dispute after the first round of negotiations. The railway’s human resources director, Martin Seiler, reacted to the union’s move with harsh criticism. The warning strike is “completely unnecessary” and an unreasonable expectation for rail passengers.
Also in Regional transport According to its own statements, Deutsche Bahn wants to try to put a very reduced offer on track. “The extent to which this is possible varies greatly from region to region. In any case, there will also be massive restrictions on regional transport,” the company said.
Passengers have been asked to avoid or postpone non-essential train journeys during the alert strike. Tickets for Wednesday and Thursday can also be used later. The rail connection has been suspended. “The ticket is valid for the journey to the original destination, even if the route is changed. Seat reservations can be canceled free of charge,” he said.
What is the union demanding?
- In collective negotiations with the railways, the GDL demands, among other things, an additional 555 euros per month for workers, as well as inflation compensation of up to 3,000 euros.
- Particularly important to Weselsky is the reduction of shift workers’ working hours from 38 to 35 hours with full wage pay.
What does Deutsche Bahn say?
- The railway considers the reduction in working hours to be unfeasible and has so far refused any negotiations on the matter.
- Instead, DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler offered an eleven percent salary increase over a period of 32 months in the first round of negotiations.
- He also expressed his willingness to pay inflation compensation.
“Too little, too long, and ultimately not enough,” Weselsky said, commenting on the employers’ offer. In fact, negotiations were expected to continue on Thursday and Friday. It was initially unclear whether it would continue like this and would then be negotiated in parallel with the ongoing warning strike.
Small union with a lot of power
The GDL is the smaller of the two railway unions, but it has the opportunity to seriously disrupt railway traffic, especially given the many train drivers in its ranks. Deutsche Bahn has so far applied GDL collective agreements in 18 of around 300 companies and emphasizes that only around 10,000 railway workers are affected by the collective negotiations that have now begun. For comparison: rail and transport union EVG negotiated new collective agreements for around 180,000 DB employees in the spring and summer.
The GDL’s strike notice is aimed not only at Deutsche Bahn employees, but also at employees at other companies with which the union is currently negotiating new collective agreements. However, Deutsche Bahn is by far the largest railway company in Germany – which is why the state-owned company is the focus of the warning strike.