Due to a
wage and working condition claim
, train drivers in
Germany
announced a
six-day strike.
This is a
historic strike,
which will not only paralyze the service in the country but will also generate complications in railway traffic in that region of Europe.
They calculate losses of
one billion euros
.
The German Union of Train Drivers (GDL), with
around 40,000 members
including drivers and other employees, presented this Thursday a new proposal to Deutsche Bahn (DB) that the railway operator
rejected
, generating anger among workers.
The union is calling for a reduction in the weekly working day from
38 to 35 hours
with a
salary increase of 555 euros per month
(
equivalent to 18 percent
) and an inflation recovery bonus for one year.
"This six-day strike is
the longest in the history
of Deutsche Bahn," stressed German railways spokeswoman Anja Broeker, commenting on the work abstention that began the night of Tuesday to Wednesday after freight trains began running. stop already the night before.
Government spokespersons, without giving figures, defined the foreseeable damage to the German economy as "enormous."
Although the German Confederation of Industry put a number on these losses: they speak of
about one billion euros.
This is the
fourth time
that train drivers have gone on strike since negotiations with Deutsche Bahn began in November 2023.
A Berlin railway terminal, deserted by unemployment.
In the three previous strikes, around 80% of long-distance services were cancelled, but regional trains were also severely affected.
Therefore, a similar scenario is now presumed for almost a week.
Due to Germany's geographical position in the center of Europe and its economy, which alone generates a quarter of the continent's GDP,
the effects have already begun to reverberate in other EU countries
: some freighters "are on strike and this It also has an impact on European freight transport.
Above all, on routes that go "to Scandinavia or seaports in
Holland and Belgium
," but also that pass "through the Alps," said the Deutsche Bahn spokeswoman.
The leader of the union, Claus Weselsky, was growing in the modality of the strike format: a three-day strike had already been registered starting on January 10, while in December the abstention from work lasted two days and in November 20 hours .
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Volker Wissing defined the duration of the strike as "
unacceptable
" and asked the parties to resort to an external mediator.
According to the German National Tourist Office,
some 7.3 million people travel daily on Deutsche Bahn trains.
The current strike has already caused the cancellation of approximately 80% of long-distance travel and much of regional transportation.
That caused another problem.
Cities such as
Hamburg, Stuttgart and the capital Berlin experience heavy traffic congestion on roads and highways.
And this, it seems, is just beginning.
With information from agencies