As of: March 8, 2024, 8:07 a.m
By: Marcel Reich, Amy Walker
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The rail strike is keeping Germany in suspense.
Full operations are not expected to resume until Saturday.
Update from March 8th, 8:04 a.m.:
The rail strike, which is keeping commuters and travelers in suspense, will last until 1 p.m.
The train drivers' union GDL has paralyzed Deutsche Bahn's long-distance and regional services since the early hours of Thursday morning (2 a.m.).
Only around 20 percent of long-distance trains have been in operation since then, while the impact on regional traffic varies.
Deutsche Bahn has announced that it will only be able to put its full service back on the rails on Saturday.
She explained: “In regional and S-Bahn traffic, after the strike ends on Friday, the offer will be gradually expanded again until the end of the day.”
In contrast, the full range of long-distance services will not be available again until Saturday, according to the railway.
Claus Weselsky initially presented the arbitrators' proposal differently at a press conference on Monday. © Daniel Karmann/dpa
Weselsiy: “I never lied” – criticism of his “error in thinking”
Update from March 7th, 8:27 a.m.:
The head of the train drivers' union GDL has rejected criticism of his incorrect presentation of collective bargaining with Deutsche Bahn.
He “never lied,” Weselsky said on Deutschlandfunk on Thursday morning.
When announcing the ongoing strike, the union boss portrayed a compromise proposal as being less favorable for the GDL than it actually was.
Weselsky later spoke of a “mistake in thinking” and on Thursday of a “slip of the tongue”.
The background for the criticism is Weselsky's descriptions of a compromise proposal in collective bargaining.
This envisaged a reduction in weekly working hours in two steps to 36 hours by 2028 with full wage compensation.
The railway accepted the proposal.
However, the GDL refused.
The talks therefore failed last week and the union called for a strike that is now underway.
Weselsky presented the mediators' proposal differently at a press conference on Monday: They had suggested a reduction to just 37 hours with full wage compensation.
A further half hour reduction would have been purely optional and associated with financial losses for the employees.
On Thursday, Weselsky said: “When we rejected the paper as a whole, we had no mistake in thinking.” You have to read the compromise proposal as a whole.
It contains a whole series of points that are unacceptable to the GDL.
The union boss mentioned a term of the collective agreement of 30 months, the elimination of collective bargaining models and more flexibility for train drivers in freight transport.
In addition, Deutsche Bahn's human resources director Martin Seiler did not offer the two-hour reduction in working hours again in further negotiations.
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Strike at the railways and Lufthansa begins
Update from March 7th, 6:23 a.m.:
The double strike is on!
The strike by train drivers in passenger transport at Deutsche Bahn (DB) began nationwide early on Thursday morning.
The company said there had been disruptions to regional and long-distance traffic since 2 a.m.
As with previous strikes, there should be a “basic offer” for passengers, said a spokeswoman.
However, “massive restrictions” are expected.
Meanwhile, GDL boss Weselsky is heavily criticized after he admitted a “mistake in thinking” at the union’s press conference on Monday (March 4).
Now he explained the situation.
“I don’t know how many people there are in this country who have never made a mistake,” Weselsky justified himself on Wednesday evening (March 6) on the
ARD Tagesthemen
.
When he asked about the arbitrators' proposal, he simply "repeated the same thing that the railway had been offering all along." He accused Bahn board member Seiler of "not once offering these two hours", contrary to his public claims - by this the GDL boss means the plan to reduce weekly working hours in two stages from 38 to 36 hours.
The next warning strike by ground staff at Lufthansa began early on Thursday morning - parallel to the train drivers' strike at Deutsche Bahn.
A spokesman for the Verdi union at Frankfurt Airport told the German Press Agency that the strike got off to a very successful start.
In addition, the aviation security controllers in Hamburg and Frankfurt went on strike, meaning that no passengers from outside can board at either location on this day.
Lufthansa wants to fly 10 to 20 percent of its original flight schedule during the warning strike.
The strike by Lufthansa ground staff is scheduled to last until Saturday morning (March 9) at 7:10 a.m.
Weselsky's “mistaken thinking” statement is causing discontent ahead of rail strikes
Update from March 6th, 2:30 p.m.:
The head of the GDL train drivers' union, Claus Weselsky, has caused further incomprehension about the new strike starting this Thursday with a false representation of a mediation proposal for rail collective bargaining.
The Federal Association of Local Rail Transport announced on Wednesday that “millions of passengers will not be able to come to work again from Thursday because of such a mistake in reasoning, because trains will not be running due to the strike.”
But publicly admitting your own “error in thinking” shows inner greatness.
GDL strike in freight transport |
March 6th at 6:00 p.m. to March 8th at 5:00 a.m |
|---|---|
GDL strike in passenger transport |
March 7th at 2:00 a.m. to March 8th at 1:00 p.m |
Subsequent strikes |
From now on without notice |
After several weeks of negotiations between Deutsche Bahn and the union, two moderators - the former Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière and Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther (both CDU) - recently submitted a compromise proposal.
This envisaged a reduction in weekly working hours in two steps to 36 hours by 2028 with full wage compensation.
The railway accepted the proposal.
However, the GDL refused.
The talks therefore failed last week and the union called for the next strike.
Weselsky initially presented the arbitrators' proposal differently at a press conference on Monday: They would have suggested a reduction to just 37 hours with full wage compensation.
A further half hour reduction would have been purely optional and associated with financial losses for the employees.
Weselsky admitted to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” on Tuesday that he had made a “mistake in thinking” with this false representation.
But that doesn't change his attitude, he emphasized.
The background is the GDL's core demand in the wage dispute that has been simmering for months: it wants to reduce the weekly working hours for shift workers from 38 to 35 hours without financial losses for the employees.
“It is all the more incomprehensible to us that people insist on maximum demands, do not move an inch, stand up and leave the negotiations,” said a railway spokesman in Berlin on Wednesday.
“We were prepared to go beyond our own pain threshold and accept this proposal.”
“Rightly fed up”: SPD politician criticizes GDL before rail strikes
Update from March 6th, 10:20 a.m.:
The chairman of the Bundestag Transport Committee, Udo Schiefner (SPD), has called on the GDL to return to the negotiating table.
“My appeal is very simple: the right to strike is one thing, a sense of responsibility is another,” Schiefner told the
Bild
newspaper on Wednesday.
He criticized the announcement by GDL boss Claus Weselsky that he would forego the usual announcement of strikes in the future: “Thousands of rail customers will certainly know exactly whether not announcing the strike is acceptable.
Many are rightly fed up.”
It is “a very unusual path that Mr. Weselsky is taking.”
Union parliamentary group vice-president Jens Spahn (CDU) told the newspaper that the strikes were “massively damaging” the economy in the midst of the crisis.
The traffic light government can no longer stand idly by, “if in doubt, the Chancellor himself must mediate.”
Union parliamentary group vice-president Ulrich Lange (CSU) criticized that DB and GDL “have apparently lost all contact with normal people in this country”.
If Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) does not have the strength to call the brawlers to order, the Chancellor will have to intervene.
Weselsky admits “error in thinking” when announcing rail strike
Update from Wednesday, March 6th, 7:40 a.m.:
Deutsche Bahn will be on strike again starting today, Wednesday evening (March 6th).
The German Locomotive Drivers' Union (GDL) gave up collective bargaining talks with the railway because it believed that the company had not adequately met their demands.
Now the negotiators of the negotiations, the former Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière and the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther (both CDU), have made a clarification in a letter to both collective bargaining parties.
In the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the chairman of the GDL, Claus Weselsky, admitted that he had made a mistake.
“I made a mistake in my thinking during the press conference,” he explained.
However, this does not change his rejection of the moderators' suggestion, he emphasized.
Because this does not include any movement towards a 35-hour week, the GDL's original demand.
Weselsky claimed at a press conference on Monday that the mediators' proposal had only envisaged a reduction to 37 hours with full wage compensation.
The railway had disputed this representation, and now Thomas de Maizière and Daniel Günther are also correcting their suggestion.
Update from March 5th, 5 p.m
.: Because of the strike in passenger rail traffic that was announced for 35 hours starting Thursday morning, many travelers are apparently switching to rental cars.
On a nationwide average, 368 percent more rental cars were booked via the comparison portal Check24 at the beginning of the week than in the previous week, as it announced on Tuesday.
The price development also showed a strong upward trend.
The increase in bookings was particularly strong in the capital Berlin: According to Check24, bookings here shot up by 770 percent.
Prices rose across Germany by an average of 62 percent.
It became particularly expensive at the start of the week in Frankfurt am Main, where the comparison portal registered the largest price increase of 169 percent.
DB human resources manager Seiler calls on GDL to negotiate
Update from March 4th, 5 p.m
.: Martin Seiler, the human resources director of Deutsche Bahn, defended the railway's actions at a press conference in the afternoon.
They have moved towards the GDL on all points, but the union is still insisting on its maximum demands.
“We experienced a new quality today,” said Seiler about Claus Weselsky’s press conference and the union’s plan to strike without notice in the future.
“This will make traveling even more unplannable for millions of people.”
Seiler called on the GDL to return to the negotiating table.
“We were actually of the opinion that an agreement should be reached in four weeks.”
When asked what could happen next, the human resources director simply said that in the end a solution could only be found through negotiations and not through strikes.
“This will also become clear to the GDL at some point.”
In his opinion, wave strikes like those that have now been announced have “never happened” at the railway.
Update from March 4th, 4:30 p.m.:
Deutsche Bahn wants to inform about the next steps at a press conference in the late afternoon (5 p.m.).
The question of an emergency timetable will probably be important for travelers.
However, if the union wants to strike without notice in the future, it will be difficult to set up.
It has not yet revealed how the railway plans to deal with this uncertainty.
Update from March 4th, 12 p.m
.: Claus Weselsky is increasing the pressure on the railway.
The GDL boss announced that there will be a strike on passenger transport in Germany on Thursday and Friday.
After that, Weselsky said, the union would go on strike without prior notice.
Until now, the GDL had always announced the respective strike at least 48 hours in advance.
New GDL strikes at Deutsche Bahn: “wave strikes” without notice
At the press conference, Weselsky became one thing above all: very clear.
“The fact that this railway board can continue to act like this is not least the fault of politicians, specifically the Minister of Transport.”
The GDL boss had a lot to say about this in particular after Volker Wissing (FDP) warned in Bild am Sonntag at the weekend that the GDL would endanger the country's security with further strikes.
“I’m really excited about how our transport minister is adhering to collective bargaining autonomy!
How he doesn’t discipline this railway board, doesn’t throw him out because of poor performance,” said Weselsky.
It was noted how the minister perceived collective bargaining autonomy.
“So we are now starting with so-called wave strikes.
And we are saying: The train is no longer a reliable means of transport,” said the GDL boss when announcing the strike.
“It is very likely that the so-called emergency plan will not be possible.”
Because of the strike announcement: Bahn accuses GDL of egoism
The railway reacted a little later with its own press release: “Because the train drivers' union is not getting its maximum demands, it is striking again.
That's stubborn and selfish.
Many millions of people in our country cannot travel by train because the GDL leadership is unwilling to make compromises,” says Human Resources Director Martin Seiler.
“We remain prepared to find constructive but realistic solutions.
However, the maximum demands of the GDL cannot be met and are massively endangering the railway system.”
The railway will provide information about the upcoming strike from Wednesday “as quickly and comprehensively as possible” and sharply criticized the planned “wave strikes”.
It is “a sheer imposition on our passengers”.
The union should return to the negotiating table.
Rail strike from Wednesday: GDL escalates dispute
Update from March 4th, 11 a.m.:
The GDL press conference has begun.
GDL boss Claus Weselsky announced: There will be further labor disputes.
The first strike will last 35 hours, said Weselsky, and will begin in freight traffic this Wednesday and in passenger traffic from Thursday.
After that there will be no more announcements - there will just be a strike.
“Everyone must now have noticed that this railway board is incorrigible,” he told the media.
In a press release, the union writes that the next strike begins on Thursday, March 7th at 2 a.m. and will last until Friday, March 8th at 1 p.m.
The freight transport strike will begin on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. and end on Friday, March 8, 2024, at 5:00 a.m.
In the press conference, Weselsky said: “The other strikes are not mentioned in terms of length or when they began.”
The union's statement states: "The GDL is already pointing out that it can no longer guarantee timely information for travelers in the event of future strikes."
Collective bargaining between DB and GDL escalates – rail strike threatens
First report from March 4th, 9:17 a.m.:
The deadlocked collective bargaining negotiations between the German Locomotive Drivers' Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have led to a stalemate.
Despite a month of peacekeeping and confidential talks, including the participation of two senior mediators, no agreement could be reached.
The possibility of indefinite strikes continues to hang over the collective bargaining dispute like the sword of Damocles.
Today, Monday, March 4th, GDL boss Claus Weselsky is expected to hold a press conference in Berlin at which the next steps will be announced.
GDL strike on the railway possible again – also indefinitely
The GDL and the railway have been fighting for a new collective agreement for months.
The focus of the dispute is the union's demand for a reduction in weekly working hours from 38 to 35 hours for shift workers, without financial losses.
After the first phase of negotiations was declared a failure by the GDL in November, two long strikes broke out following a strike vote, which largely paralyzed long-distance, regional and freight transport in Germany.
Surprisingly, the GDL ended the latest industrial dispute early and began renewed negotiations with the railway behind closed doors at the beginning of February.
Discussions were also held for four weeks with external mediators - the former Federal Minister Thomas de Maizière and Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther (both CDU).
On Thursday, Deutsche Bahn announced that the GDL had broken off negotiations.
According to the railway, the negotiations failed due to the union's main demand for a reduction in weekly working hours.
The railway rejects this, but in the previous weeks had proposed solutions within the framework of existing working time choice models.
However, the union accused the railway of not adhering to the agreements on external communication.
According to
Tagesspiegel,
Weselsky accused his counterpart Martin Seiler, the railway's human resources director, of hiding behind "camouflage, tricks, and filling pockets."
He described the railway's previous offer as a "label fraud", as the railway only wanted to enable a reduction in working hours if this was operationally feasible.
Indefinite rail strikes would cause massive damage to the economy
Now strikes are threatening again, which could also be indefinite.
There has never been such a level of standstill in public transport, although there have been difficult negotiations in the past.
For example, the collective bargaining dispute between the railways and the union lasted over 11 months in 2007 and 2008.
But even then the sharpest sword, the indefinite strike, remained unused.
It is unlikely that the GDL will resort to this last resort, although it is not impossible.
First of all, it is likely to start again with a strike lasting several days, like the five-day strike in January that was already announced but then canceled.
A strike over Easter also seems conceivable in order to build up as much pressure as possible.
Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) tried
to promote a resumption of negotiations in
Bild am Sonntag at the weekend.
“It would no longer be explainable to the people of this country if there were another strike after months of negotiations because those responsible at the negotiating table were unable to find a solution.”
In addition to rail drivers, the economy would also be affected by new strikes, as freight transport could also come to a standstill.
Wissing therefore warned of supply bottlenecks and disruptions to supply chains in industry as well as possible problems for energy suppliers due to coal transport for power plants.
The Transport Minister emphasized: “In addition to the massive disruption to everyday life for large parts of the population, those responsible should remember that there is war in Europe.”
He added: “This collective bargaining dispute must not become a security risk.
We have to find a common solution to this problem.”
With material from dpa and AFP