The German train drivers’ union GDL has called for a new 24-hour strike at DB from Tuesday amid stalled negotiations with the management of the state-owned rail operator.
The strike will start at 02.00 local time on Tuesday (01.00 GMT) and will last until 02.00 on Wednesday for passenger services, the GDL union announced on Sunday evening in a statement. For freight services, the strike will start a few hours earlier.
This is the sixth strike organised by the union since November 2023, less than a week after the stoppage of work by train drivers caused difficulties for thousands of passengers.
Adding to the travel disruption, Lufthansa cabin crew are expected to go on strike at Frankfurt airport on Tuesday and Munich airport on Wednesday. The German airline group was already hit by a two-day strike by ground staff last week, with workers demanding pay rises.
Europe’s biggest economy has been disrupted for months by industrial action as workers and management in many sectors clash over working conditions amid high inflation and weak economic activity.
A new strike at DB. Negotiations have broken down
The GDL union said Deutsche Bahn management had failed to present an improved written offer by Sunday evening’s deadline, which “inevitably leads to industrial action”, GDL chief Claus Weselsky pointed out.
Deutsche Bahn had earlier on Sunday called for a new round of negotiations on Monday. “We are convinced that we will only reach an agreement through dialogue at the negotiating table,” said Martin Seiler, Deutsche Bahn’s head of human resources.
In addition to pay rises, the GDL union’s main demand is a reduced working week of 35 hours, down from 38 at present, without a pay cut. Deutsche Bahn management said it had made concessions representing a pay rise of up to 13% and the possibility of reducing the working week to 37 hours from 2026.
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