Breathe a sigh of relief for rail passengers: After the GDL put passenger traffic on strike for three days, rail traffic has now started again as planned.
After the three-day strike by the train drivers’ union GDL, Deutsche Bahn is back on the normal timetable. A spokesman for the federally owned company said traffic started as planned and smoothly in the morning. The GDL had put a nationwide strike on rail passenger traffic from Wednesday morning to Friday evening, causing thousands of train cancellations. After the labor dispute ended, the railway initially continued to operate according to an emergency timetable in order to prepare for a smooth start to operations.
There are still no new collective bargaining negotiations between the railways and the GDL in sight. “After these strike measures have been completed, we will give the company some time to come to its senses,” said GDL boss Claus Weselsky. “If they don’t do that, the next industrial action will follow. It will be longer and it will hit the company even harder.”
The union wants the weekly working hours for shift workers to be reduced from 38 to 35 hours with full wage compensation. The railway has so far rejected this and has offered to expand existing working time models. Anyone who reduces their working hours in this context must accept financial losses.
Source: Stern