After the strike ends on Friday evening, the train drivers’ union GDL wants to give employers “some time”. “If nothing happens, then the next industrial dispute is inevitable,” announced GDL chairman Claus Weselsky in Magdeburg. Weselsky accused the railways of blocking the negotiations so far.
However, the strike at the transport company Transdev ended early on Friday at 12 p.m. The GDL boss spoke of a “strong signal”. Wesesky explained that the company had announced a reduction in weekly working hours as an offer for a resumption of negotiations. “We still have to negotiate a whole series of points, we haven’t reached a conclusion yet.”
The Trans Regio Deutsche Regionalbahn announced that the Transdev Group, as the parent company, had achieved a return to the negotiating table and an early end to the strike. At Deutsche Bahn, the work stoppage ends on Friday at 6 p.m. “Anyone who says they won’t negotiate with us about reducing weekly working hours will go on strike,” Weselsky reiterated.
Annoyance among rail travelers when trains are canceled is normal, explained the union boss. “Nevertheless, people know that unions have an important function in this country.”
The GDL began the strike in Deutsche Bahn’s passenger transport on Wednesday morning, and there has been a strike in freight transport since Tuesday evening. With the industrial action, the union wants to increase the pressure on the railway in order to achieve, among other things, a reduction in working hours for shift workers with full wage compensation in the collective bargaining dispute with the company. The railway has so far rejected this.
