Image: Matthias Hiekel (dpa central image)
In the wage dispute in the railway industry, the railway union (EVG) has called for a strike in long-distance and regional transport for Friday between 3 a.m. and 11 a.m. The day before, the Verdi union had announced walkouts at Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn and Hamburg airports for Thursday and Friday.
“Massive effects” on Austria
“In Austria, the planned strike will also have massive effects – trains to and from Germany will be short-lived or cancelled,” ÖBB warned on Wednesday. All train connections via the Deutsches Eck are also affected. Night train connections to and from Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are already affected from the night of April 20th to April 21st. Travelers should find out about their planned connections in the ÖBB timetable information Scotty, the ÖBB app or by calling ÖBB customer service at 05-1717-0.
Local trains are run briefly
The trains in local traffic from, to and via Germany will be short, according to the ÖBB. In Salzburg, trains on line S3 begin and end in the direction of Freilassing in Salzburg Liefering, trains on line S2 begin and end in Salzburg Hbf. In Upper Austria, local trains in the direction of Passau only go to/from Schärding. Local trains in the direction of Simbach/Inn begin and end in Braunau am Inn. In Vorarlberg, trains in the direction of Lindau-Reutin will end in Lochau-Hörbranz, and in Tyrol local transport in the direction of Mittenwald will only run to/from Scharnitz. According to ÖBB, rail replacement buses can be made available for some of the short connections.
Numerous changes in long-distance transport
In long-distance transport, there will be changes to numerous connections from, to and via Germany during the strike period and also in the hours afterwards, according to ÖBB. Due to scheduled construction work at the Deutsches Eck between Salzburg and Kufstein, the Railjet trains with the destination stations of Innsbruck, Bregenz, Zurich and Bolzano will be operated with buses in this section all day long. RJX trains to and from Munich start and end in Salzburg Hbf, the IC and ICE trains to/from Passau have short runs to Schärding. Long-distance trains from Austria and Switzerland via Lindau-Reutin start and end in St. Margrethen, those via the Tauern/Ennstal route start and end in Salzburg Hbf and long-distance trains via the Brenner route start and end in Kufstein and Innsbruck.
Strike also in air traffic
The fact that there will be a strike in air and rail transport in Germany on Friday is a coincidence, emphasized EVG negotiator Kristian Loroch on Wednesday when announcing the actions. Unlike the coordinated, large-scale warning strike in the transport sector at the end of March, both German unions had not agreed in advance for Friday. “We didn’t do that, there is no vote this time,” said Loroch.
“For us it’s not about punishing passengers,” said EVG collective bargaining officer Cosima Ingenschay. “On the contrary: We are only interested in increasing the pressure on the employer.” The union is currently negotiating higher tariffs with around 50 railway companies in the second round. At Deutsche Bahn, the negotiations should continue next Tuesday.
650 euros more per month demanded
In the negotiations with the industry, the employee representatives are demanding at least 650 euros more per month or twelve percent for the upper income groups and a term of twelve months. The state-owned company recently announced that it intends to use the latest arbitration award in the public service wage dispute as a guide. The EVG rejected this.
“We are not part of the public service and we were not part of the arbitration process either,” emphasized Loroch. “We have sent demands and we simply expect the demands to be dealt with.”
According to the EVG, the transport company Transdev, for which negotiations will continue this Wednesday, will initially be exempt from the warning strikes in German rail traffic on Friday. “Depending on how the negotiations go today, Transdev will be exempt from the strike on Friday,” said Ingenschay. “Otherwise, we assume that nothing will work on the rails on Friday morning.”
“Completely useless and unnecessary”
The personnel director of Deutsche Bahn, Martin Seiler, expressed incomprehension about the announcement on Wednesday. “This strike is completely useless and unnecessary,” he said. On Friday, the busiest day of the week, the campaign hit many commuters “particularly hard”. Seiler defended his own proposal to orientate himself towards the arbitrator’s tariff compromise of the public service. “Why shouldn’t what is good for the 2.5 million public sector workers also be good for 180,000 railway workers?”
Independent arbitrators proposed a solution last weekend in the wage dispute in the public sector. This initially provides for a tax-free and tax-free inflation adjustment in several stages of a total of 3,000 euros. From March 2024 there will then be a base amount of 200 euros and then a wage increase of 5.5 percent. The unions want to negotiate the proposal with the federal and local governments next weekend.
Longer waiting times and flight cancellations
In this context, Verdi has called on employees in the aviation security area, in passenger control, personnel and goods control and in the service areas of the three airports in Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn and Hamburg to go on all-day warning strikes for Thursday and Friday. “In connection with the strike, longer waiting times and even flight cancellations or cancellations are to be expected,” the union warned on Tuesday. The aviation industry criticized the renewed strike.
The EVG had already organized a first warning strike at the end of March together with the Verdi trade union. At that time, not only regional and long-distance rail transport but also air and water transport were at a standstill.
Source: Nachrichten
