German rail strike ends, union threatens further industrial action
A three-day train drivers' strike ended throughout Germany on Friday evening, but the head of the GDL union warned that rail operator Deutsche Bahn should prepare for more industrial action to come.
"After completing these strike measures, we will give the company (Deutsche Bahn) some time to come to its senses," GDL boss Claus Weselsky said in Berlin on Friday evening as the strike wound down.
"If they don’t do that, the next industrial action will follow. It will be longer and it will hit the company even harder," Weselsky added, without giving a date for another strike.
The strike at Deutsche Bahn ended at 6 pm (1700 GMT). Industrial action affecting regional operator Transdev ended at 12 pm, earlier than expected.
Deutsche Bahn said passengers should prepare for delays and cancellations even after the strike.
The rail operator expects operations to return to normal by Saturday morning.
There appeared to be some movement in the dispute between GDL and Transdev. GDL indicated that in a new offer, Transdev had assured the union that it would "seriously negotiate all the core demands of the current collective bargaining round."
Transdev confirmed the new offer and said negotiations are to resume on Monday. The company operates regional rail lines in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Saxony and Bavaria.
The GDL's core demand at both companies is a reduction in working hours from 38 to 35 hours for shift workers with full pay compensation. Both Deutsche Bahn and Transdev have rejected this.
The GDL had therefore previously declared the negotiations at both companies to have failed.
There could only be a resumption of collective bargaining if the railway operator shows itself to be open to the core demands, union chief Weselsky said.
So far, Deutsche Bahn has only offered to expand existing working time models. This means that anyone who reduces their working hours in this context must accept financial losses.
Deutsche Bahn in turn called on the union to return to the negotiating table. "We are ready to negotiate, we are ready to talk," said DB spokeswoman Bröker. "It is now also up to the GDL to return to the table. Strikes to enforce all demands - that's not how collective bargaining works."
The third and longest strike action to date in the collective bargaining dispute began early on Wednesday morning in passenger transport and on Tuesday evening in freight transport.
Deutsche Bahn said it managed to operate a good 20% of its usual long-distance services with an emergency timetable during the strike. In regional transport, the effects of the action varied greatly depending on the federal state.
Since the start of negotiations at the beginning of November, the GDL had already brought passenger trains to a standstill twice with 20 and 24-hour strikes.
In December the union held a ballot for its members to vote on whether to escalate pressure on Deutsche Bahn by walking off the job for an indefinite period of time. Around 97% of members were in favour, making it possible to hold longer strikes at any time.
