As of: January 24, 2024, 7:01 p.m
By: Richard Strobl, Patrick Freiwah
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The six-day GDL strike has begun nationwide.
Deutsche Bahn rejected a new offer from the train drivers' union.
Update from January 24th, 7:30 a.m.:
The Arbitration Board for Public Transport (SÖP) can help if you have trouble with Deutsche Bahn.
The offer is free.
The requirements: The transport company must be a member of the SÖP - this applies to Deutsche Bahn.
In addition, customers must have previously tried to reach an agreement directly with the company.
If that fails, an application for arbitration can be submitted to the SÖP.
The office reviews the application and contacts the company.
A solution can be found in around 80 to 90 percent of cases.
Deutsche Bahn's ICE: At the end of January, the GDL is carrying out another round of strikes in this country.
© Manngold/Imago
“A current example would be that the booked train is canceled due to a strike and travelers book a rental car for their journey,” says Christof Berlin, head of the arbitration board.
“Consumers could then claim the costs of the rental car and fuel as part of the arbitration.”
Start of strike: GDL has been on strike in passenger transport since early Wednesday morning
Update from January 24th, 6:53 a.m.:
“There will be massive disruptions to all long-distance and regional traffic up to and including Monday due to the GDL strike,” the railway announced.
The emergency timetable offers a greatly reduced but reliable range of journeys.
“The extent to which this is possible varies greatly from region to region,” explained the railway.
Travelers are advised to reserve a seat early on long-distance transport and to find out about the planned connection 24 hours before departure.
Update from January 24th, 6:30 a.m.:
The strike by train drivers in passenger transport began early on Wednesday morning at Deutsche Bahn.
Train drivers across the country stopped work at 2 a.m.
The railway's freight traffic has been on strike since Tuesday at 6 p.m.
There will be massive disruptions to all long-distance and regional transport up to and including Monday due to the strike by the train drivers' union GDL.
However, the emergency timetable for DB passenger traffic started as planned, explained Deutsche Bahn.
GDL proposal: Deutsche Bahn rejected the new offer
Update from January 23rd, 10:31 p.m.:
The railway has confirmed to the
BR
that a new offer has been made by the GDL.
However, the railway rejected this.
“This is not a proposal for an agreement, this is a repetition of well-known maximum demands that cannot be implemented in this way,” a railway spokesman told
Bayerischer Rundfunk
.
The GDL did not accommodate the railway in “any single point” with its offer.
“This shows the need to finally come to the table again and look for solutions and compromises,” the spokesman continued.
The group is “ready to negotiate at any time and any place”.
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Will rail strike be suspended at the last minute?
Report on new GDL offer
Update from January 23rd, 9:34 p.m.:
Will the rail strike scheduled for Wednesday morning be suspended at the last minute?
After freight traffic has been on strike since 6 p.m. on Tuesday, there is now apparently movement in the tariff dispute.
The train drivers' union GDL is said to have made an offer to the railway.
Bayerischer Rundfunk reported this late in the evening.
If the railway agrees to negotiations based on the offer, the strike could still be suspended, it is said.
The offer includes, among other things, a gradual reduction in working hours.
But there still needs to be further negotiations about it.
According to the report, the GDL is now proposing a gradual transition to the 35-hour week between 2025 and 2028.
In addition, it is now being offered that train drivers can continue to work 40 hours on a voluntary basis.
In addition, the GDL wants a five-day week with a rest period of 48 hours.
According to the GDL demand, the inflation compensation should amount to 3,000 euros.
The railway is currently offering 2,850 euros.
The railway again called on the union on Tuesday morning to return to the negotiating table.
“It is now time to come together, negotiate, find compromises,” said a spokeswoman in Berlin.
“We are ready to come together for negotiations and discussions at any time and any place.”
Update from January 23rd, 8:23 p.m.:
From Wednesday morning, rail travelers will have to prepare for problems due to the strike.
The GDL started the strike in freight transport on Tuesday evening.
The strike there started as planned at 6 p.m., a GDL spokesman said upon request.
Deutsche Bahn announced that a number of freight trains were on strike and would not be able to reach their destinations.
“European freight traffic via the Alps, Poland or to Scandinavia as well as the sea ports in Holland or Belgium are also affected,” said a spokesman.
A decline in freight transport volumes had already been recorded in advance.
It could be that many goods would be transferred from rail to road.
In particular, industries with a high proportion of rail freight have to reschedule because of the strike.
“The announced six-day rail strike is putting a strain on transport logistics in Germany and Europe and thus also on companies in the German automotive industry,” said the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) when asked.
The chemical industry, which also handles a lot of transport by rail, made similar comments.
“The companies immediately developed flexible solutions with their customers and logistics service providers,” said the Association of the Chemical Industry when asked.
“But these can only partially compensate for the restrictions and delays in rail logistics.”
Scholz appeals to train drivers about the rail strike
Update from January 23rd, 5:52 p.m.:
Before the day-long strike - the fourth of the current collective bargaining round - at the railway, Chancellor Olaf Scholz appealed to the locomotive drivers to make moderate use of their right to strike.
Leading industrial disputes is one of the freedoms “that are so firmly regulated in our Basic Law that they cannot simply be abolished - not even through legislation,” explained the Social Democrat.
“That doesn’t stop anyone from making wise use of their opportunities and their rights.
And that is my appeal.”
GDL initiates the next rail strike: It starts on Tuesday evening
Berlin/Munich - Passionate train travelers already know it: Once again, Deutsche Bahn trains are paralyzed by a rail strike by the train drivers' union GDL.
While the measures in freight transport will come into force on Tuesday (January 23, 2024) from 6 p.m., passenger traffic will be affected on Wednesday night from 2 a.m.
In the collective bargaining dispute with Deutsche Bahn, the employee representatives of GDL boss Claus Weselsky are obviously resorting to increasingly harsh measures to enforce their demands: With 144 hours in freight traffic and 136 hours in passenger traffic, the upcoming rail strike would be the GDL's longest industrial dispute ever on the railway.
The situation is only likely to ease again next Monday from 6 p.m., when the end of the rail strike is scheduled.
Rail strike: GDL measures are costing the German economy a lot of money
While on the one hand the work stoppages are affecting the travel plans of hundreds of thousands to millions of people in the nation, economists see the consequences for the already ailing German economy: the overall economic damage from the GDL offensive is said to be up to one billion euros.
The upcoming mega-strike is the fourth in the current round of collective bargaining, which began in November last year: in December, the union backed up its ideas with a one-day warning strike, followed by a three-day strike in January.
The duration of the warning strikes against Deutsche Bahn is therefore becoming longer and longer.
Meanwhile, Weselsky defends himself against criticism of the union's recent rail strike.
Regarding the court decision on Deutsche Bahn's application at the beginning of January, the 64-year-old explains: "We have not been stopped because our strikes are legal, proportionate and permissible."
GDL strikes Deutsche Bahn: Lufthansa enjoys higher demand
Meanwhile, Lufthansa is experiencing increased demand on domestic German flights due to the train drivers' strike.
The group recorded “some additional bookings” for the GDL strike period, according to the core company in Frankfurt.
As a result, the company uses larger aircraft in order to be able to offer travel options to as many customers as possible.
The Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings is also noticing a sharp increase in demand, especially for domestic German routes.
These days we are even recording the highest bookings in the past four years.
However, Germany's largest airline is also threatened with strike action in January.
(With material from dpa)