After the warning strike on Monday on all railways in Austria, train traffic should run almost normally again on Tuesday. “We are assuming that the restart will largely go smoothly,” said a spokesman for the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) on Monday. However, isolated failures and delays cannot be ruled out. According to ÖBB, every train had reached its destination station in the night from Sunday to Monday, so that no passenger was stranded.
Also effects on Germany
The one-day warning strike by the railway workers also affected all international connections with Austria. Deutsche Bahn announced that the night trains to and from the Alpine country would also be canceled on Tuesday night.
In the collective bargaining dispute, the Vida union is demanding wage increases of an average of 12 percent in view of inflation of 11 percent – based on a fixed amount of 400 euros a month. The employers had recently offered 8.4 percent and pointed out that such a fixed amount constitutes an increase of up to 24 percent in the lower income brackets. The union said it offered to continue the collective bargaining talks on Tuesday.
Hope for a quick agreement
Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) explained that in Austria it is a tradition that the federal government does not interfere in collective bargaining. But she hopes for a quick agreement. “As a minister who propagates structures for environmentally friendly mobility, my heart bleeds every day that public transport is not available.”
According to ÖBB, around 8,000 passenger and freight trains from various operators are normally on the move in Austria every day. About a million passengers are transported every day.
