Germany joins the longest railway strike in its history

first Amendment: 01/24/2024 – 21:15

2 minutes

This is the fourth railway strike since last November, and comes just two weeks after the previous strike. According to Deutsche Bahn, the measure will affect 80% of long-distance routes, and will affect the supply chain of chemical and steel products.

“European freight traffic through the Alps, Poland or Scandinavia, as well as ports in the Netherlands or Belgium, will also be affected,” Deutsche Bahn warned.

Cargo volume was already reduced, as many customers had canceled shipments in advance of the strike.

Disagreement over wages and working hours has triggered this series of protests by the GDL union, which has not changed the status of the state-owned company that manages railway operations in the country.

no progress

Drivers have requested a reduction from 38 to 35 hours per week without a pay cut, to which Deutsche Bahn responded negatively, calling the demand a “repetition of well-known maximum demands”.

The strike has forced users to seek alternatives in ground and air transportation, as they have done during previous strikes. The first two last 24 hours, and the last three days.

Only one of the five long-distance trains will be active during the stop, which will last till 6:00 pm on Monday. Its impact is less on local or interregional routes, which in some cases are operated by private companies that continue to operate as normal.

A spokesman for the operator said that given the “huge impact on the economy” of the six-day strike, it was time to sit down at the table to talk, and union leader Klaus Weselski assured that they were ready to deliver. . in, but regrettably their counterparts were not in tune.

Veselski complained, “We have to wait longer and more fundamentally because the railway management opposes the advice.”

The German transport minister, Volker Wissing, warned in statements to public radio Deutschelandfunk that he had not ruled out carrying out a mediation process, as there was little chance of coordination between positions.

“If things are so deadlocked that we can’t talk to each other clearly, we need immediate mediation or arbitration,” Vissing said.

depressed economy

Experts say the shutdown could cause losses of up to $1.1 billion to the already weak German economy.

The train drivers’ protest joins other demonstrations that reflect growing social discontent in the country, such as an overnight occupation of Hamburg by farmers who will visit the city with more than 100 tractors.

Supply chains are already suffering from the conflict in the Red Sea, where shipping routes have come under attack from Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

with AP and Reuters