German train drivers strike again over pay

Reuters

Berlin

German train drivers staged a nationwide strike for the second time in a week yesterday, causing major traffic disruptions as people were forced to use buses, cars and planes.

The stoppage by the drivers’ union GDL, which is in dispute with state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn over pay, meant two thirds of regional train services were cancelled as well as many commuter trains, Deutsche Bahn said.

In a separate German transport dispute, pilots at national airline Lufthansa’s low-cost unit Germanwings said they would stage a 12-hour strike from noon on Thursday, with 100 mostly domestic flights cancelled.

The railway strike started at 1200 GMT yesterday and was due to run until 0200 GMT today.

Deutsche Bahn called the action “completely incomprehensible”. It has offered a conditional pay rise of 2%.

GDL is seeking a 5% pay rise for drivers and a shortening of their working week to 37 hours from 39 hours. The union also wants a mandate to negotiate for train guards and other personnel, something Deutsche Bahn has rejected.

The company wants to halt talks until the government passes a law which would mean a settlement with the biggest union in a firm would apply to all workers in that firm. GDL, which is not the biggest union within Deutsche Bahn, opposes such reforms.

Deutsche Bahn said that the union was putting priority on building up its power base instead of focusing on reasonable negotiations.

Ulrich Weber, chief human resources officer at Deutsche Bahn, said the company had made plans to discuss a solution to the pay dispute Wednesday and Thursday.

“And now, just hours before these talks were supposed to start, the GDL calls a strike? That is audacious and shameless,” he said.

Union leader Weselsky said yesterday that the criticism was completely unwarranted, referring to the latest work stoppage as a “fundamental right”.

Weselsky said that the union had provided notification of the strike on Tuesday at 6pm in keeping with advance notification procedures. He would not say if more strikes were likely in the near future.