A rail strike in Germany will take place on Friday 21 April after the rail unions have so far failed to reach an agreement on wage increases.
The EVG union on Wednesday called a nationwide strike in the transport sector for Friday, and one of the companies expected to be affected will be rail operator Deutsche Bahn.
The strike action is expected to affect 50 companies and will last from 3:00 AM (02:00 GMT) to 11:00 AM (10:00 GMT), said the EVG union, which represents employees in the rail and general transport sector. EVG warned commuters to expect delays and cancellations. High inflation in Europe’s largest economy has triggered a wave of strikes in recent weeks as workers demanded higher wages to counter rising living costs.
The Verdi union has also called on employees working at checkpoints at three airports to strike on Thursday and Friday. Hamburg airport management warned as early as Tuesday that all departures would be cancelled, affecting around 80,000 travellers.
EVG, which is negotiating on behalf of 230,000 workers, wants a 12% pay rise or at least €650 more a month. State rail operator Deutsche Bahn has offered a 5% pay rise and a one-off payment of up to €2,500.
A rail strike in Germany also took place last month
A strong strike movement by rail transport unionists also took place in Germany in March. Both rail traffic, public transport in major cities and airports went largely on 24-hour strike at federal level at the call of the service providers’ union Verdi and the railways union EVG.
The protest at the end of March was billed as the biggest strike since German reunification.
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