Locomotive engineers in Germany are being called on to strike again at Deutsche Bahn from Wednesday, the GDL union has announced.
With negotiations at a standstill, “we are launching (…) waves of strikes,” said GDL president Claus Weselsky.
The first strike is expected to last 35 hours, begin at 18.00 local time (19.00 CET) on Wednesday and will target passenger transport. These waves of strikes will make “the railways no longer a reliable means of transport,” warns Weselsky.
Resorting to air travel is unlikely to be a solution for many travellers, with the Verdi union calling for a warning strike at German airline Lufthansa on Thursday and Friday.
A new strike at Deutsche Bahn, after the one in January
More strikes are to follow at DB, without a 48-hour notice as usual, union leaders say. The union has already organised four strikes in this industrial dispute, the last at the end of January, which lasted about six days, one of the longest strikes in the history of German rail transport.
During these work stoppages, rail traffic was paralysed throughout Germany. The freight disruption is taking a heavy toll on the already struggling German economy.
This new strike “will last a total of 35 hours (…), so that everyone in the (Federal) Republic of Germany understands what this is about: the 35-hour work week”, up from 38 at present, points out Weselsky, whose union is also demanding wage increases to compensate for inflation. GDL and the railways had wanted to negotiate by Sunday, but the union ended the talks prematurely, according to DB.
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