The nationwide warning strike by the GDL train drivers’ union in the morning mainly affects commuters: According to Deutsche Bahn, in some places there is “almost nothing” – even though the emergency plan has started “stable”.
According to Deutsche Bahn, regional and long-distance traffic as well as S-Bahn operations are “massively restricted” due to the warning strike by the train drivers’ union GDL. The strike started yesterday at 6 p.m. and has since led to delays on the way to work and home, especially for commuters.
Deutsche Bahn announced that the emergency timetable had started as planned and was stable. However, the effects of the strike vary greatly from region to region: According to railway spokesman Achim Stauß, around 20 percent of trains run in long-distance transport, while in local transport there are individual regions in which the railway “cannot operate at all”. He again called for trips planned for today to be postponed – even after the strike ends at 6 p.m., traffic will not start “perfectly.”
From one-hour intervals to “almost nothing”
In North Rhine-Westphalia Some signal boxes were not occupied in the morning – so the strike also has an impact on other railway companies, as entire sections of the route cannot be used without a dispatcher. It was correspondingly quiet at Cologne Central Station in the morning.
In Berlin and Brandenburg According to a spokesman, replacement buses will be used on individual routes – but this cannot completely replace the capacity of a train.
Regarding the situation in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia said a spokesman: “It drives almost nothing.” Since the level of organization of the GDL there is very high, the region is likely to be particularly hard hit by the effects of the warning strike.
In Bavaria According to a union spokesman, it was still unclear in the morning how many railway employees had followed the GDL’s call. According to Deutsche Bahn, there will be massive disruptions to local and long-distance transport. According to the “Münchner Merkur”, most S-Bahn trains in the Munich area run every 60 minutes instead of the usual 20 minutes, with the exception of the S1 and S8 towards the airport. In the Nuremberg area The S5 and S6 will be completely at a standstill, and the railway is “developing” emergency plans for lines S1 to S4, as the regional portal “inFranken.de” reports.
In Northern Germany The regional trains were running less frequently than usual: According to the railway, there should be a one-hour frequency between Lübeck and Hamburg and a two-hour frequency between Kiel and Hamburg. Trains between Heide and Itzehoe, Husum and Kiel as well as Travemünde and Lübeck should therefore be completely eliminated.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania According to a spokeswoman, the Wismar-Rostock-Ticino and Rostock-Rövershagen-Graal-Müritz connections as well as the traffic between Rostock and Warnemünde will remain in place – “otherwise there will be almost no journeys”.
Weselsky rejects allegations
The GDL surprisingly announced the warning strike on Tuesday. Those called upon include train drivers, train attendants, workshop employees and dispatchers. Deutsche Bahn then canceled the second round of collective bargaining this week. “Either you strike or you negotiate. You can’t do both at the same time,” said Human Resources Director Martin Seiler. The talks planned for this Thursday and Friday will therefore not take place.
GDl boss Claus Weselsky rejected accusations that the union was already acting in an escalating manner after just one round of negotiations: No compromise could be achieved if the employers fundamentally rejected negotiations on weekly working hours and collective agreements for dispatchers, he told the radio station WDR5. For his part, he reproached the railway’s management: “What has the railway been offering for the last two years? Chaos. Unpunctuality, unreliability,” he said.
GDL demands a 35-hour week with wage compensation
For a collective agreement term of one year, the GDL is demanding a wage increase of at least 555 euros per month as well as an increase in shift work allowances by 25 percent and a tax-free inflation payment of 3,000 euros. The core concern, however, is a 35-hour week with full wage compensation in a four-day week for employees in shift work.
The union considers the first offer submitted by the railway to be inadequate: the company is offering eleven percent more wages and an inflation bonus of up to 2,850 euros for a term of 32 months. From the railway’s point of view, the reduction in working hours with full wage compensation demanded by the GDL cannot be implemented.
The next agreed interview dates are November 23rd and 24th. Both sides left it open whether these would take place.