As of: January 29, 2024, 7:00 p.m
By: Lisa Mayerhofer, Richard Strobl, Patrick Freiwah
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The six-day GDL strike continues on Friday.
After four warning strikes in 2023, Deutsche Bahn will once again set a compensation record.
Update from January 26th, 9:35 a.m.:
Last year, Deutsche Bahn had to pay record amounts of compensation to passengers because of the strikes.
The federally owned company processed 5.6 million compensation applications in 2023 and paid customers a total of 132.8 million euros, as a railway spokesman told the German Press Agency upon request.
The jump is huge: 92.7 million euros were paid out in 2022.
That was also a record at the time.
In addition to the warning strikes, the railway cited a significant increase in the number of travelers compared to the previous year, a record number of short-term construction sites and the onset of winter in December.
In the event of train cancellations due to strikes or warning strikes, passengers can get the entire ticket price back.
In 2023, Deutsche Bahn was on strike four times, twice each by the railway and transport union EVG and the train drivers' union GDL.
After four warning strikes in 2023, Deutsche Bahn will once again set a compensation record.
(Archive image) © Joerg Carstensen/dpa/Symbolbild
A DB spokesman emphasized that rail travelers benefit from the most generous regulations of all means of transport.
“But it is also true: there is a three-digit million amount missing that is needed for the urgently needed investments in the modernization of the railways in Germany,” said the spokesman.
“This is the only way we can sustainably improve the punctuality of our trains.”
Weselsky fights against Deutsche Bahn: “broken, dilapidated system”
Update from January 25th, 3:35 p.m.:
The GDL is on strike, many trains are at a standstill.
But Deutsche Bahn's emergency timetable remained stable even on the second day of the strike by the German Locomotive Drivers' Union (GDL).
“The trains are running and you can travel even during the strike,” said Deutsche Bahn board member Stefanie Berk on Thursday in Frankfurt am Main with a view to long-distance transport.
The offer works reliably.
Travelers should continue to find out about their train connection and reserve seats online.
As with the GDL's previous labor disputes in the ongoing collective bargaining dispute with the federally owned company, around a fifth of the long-distance trains are in use.
“That is also our plan for the next few days,” said Berk.
There are also extensive restrictions in regional transport, although they vary in severity.
GDL boss Claus Weselsky gives a press conference after the end of the strike.
(Archive image) © Monika Skolimowska/dpa
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The train drivers' union GDL is on strike on Deutsche Bahn's long-distance, regional and freight transport until Monday.
Despite the significant impact of the six-day rail strike on travelers and commuters, GDL boss Claus Weselsky believes public opinion is on the side of the strikers.
“It is not the published opinion that reflects how people feel about this strike, but public opinion,” he said at a rally in Stuttgart on Thursday.
This is definitely different because “the majority of people in this country are employees – no matter their qualifications, no matter what industry sector or company they work in.”
On Thursday, Weselsky again dealt heavily against the management of the railway company.
“We are tired of serving in a broken, dilapidated system, of sacrificing our free time for the guys who let themselves be driven around this country in large chauffeur-driven limousines and boast that they know something about the railway system,” he said .
GDL rail strike: Ramelow sees Deutsche Bahn to blame
Update from January 25th, 10:05 a.m.:
Many trains will continue to stand still on Thursday due to the rail strike.
Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left) has blamed Deutsche Bahn for the escalation of the collective bargaining dispute with the train drivers' union (GDL).
“I don’t understand at all what the railway’s strategy is,” he told the
editorial network Germany (RND)
.
Ramelow, together with the former Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck (SPD), settled the long wage dispute between the railways and the GDL in 2015.
He and Platzeck were also appointed as arbitrators in 2017.
Ramelow said there was no arbitrable offer.
Instead, the railway board repeatedly tries to take legal action against the GDL.
The goal is apparently to destroy the union.
“But that makes it even more of a fighting organization.
“I can only shake my head in amazement,” said the ex-railway arbitrator.
The German Locomotive Drivers' Union (GDL) has called for the first multi-day strike in the current collective bargaining dispute with Deutsche Bahn and other companies.
© Bernd Thissen/dpa
GDL strike: Arbitration board can help with rail trouble
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.
“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 Deutsche Bahn's 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 disruption 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”.
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."
(With material from dpa)