Passenger train drivers will strike from Wednesday morning until Friday evening, while freight train drivers will stop work on Tuesday evening.
Deutsche Bahn called on passengers to postpone their journeys during the strike and announced plans to develop an emergency train timetable that will provide “a very limited number of long-distance, regional and metropolitan S-Bahn services”.
The railway company criticized the strike and said it would challenge it in the Frankfurt labor court.
The strike ends the GDL’s “Christmas truce”, when the union promised not to strike during the Christmas and New Year period until January 7.
The union is now planning its third and longest strike since wage negotiations began in November. During this time, GDL has already paralyzed German passenger train traffic twice with 20- and 24-hour strikes.
One of the stumbling blocks in negotiations is that the union is demanding shorter hours for machinists.
Klauss Veselskis, head of GDL, has demanded that the working hours of shift workers be reduced from the current 38 hours per week to 35 hours, while maintaining full-time pay. Deutsche Bahn already has different working time models.
Deutsche Bahn has clearly rejected the demand for a reduced workload, citing labor shortages.
The company has offered an 11% wage increase and the conclusion of a collective agreement for 32 months, but GDL rejects the offer, demanding a wage increase of 555 euros per month and a one-time bonus of 3,000 euros as compensation for inflation. “Deutsche Bahn” offered to pay compensation of 100 0 euros.
Last week, the head of GDL announced that three to five days of strikes are planned this year.
2024-01-08 07:18:35
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