- Title: GERMANY: German rail drivers escalate strike - commuters and travellers stranded
- Date: 15th November 2007
- Summary: (W2) BERLIN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 15, 2007) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WAITING FOR BUS AT TRAIN STATION ZOOLOGISCHER GARTEN BUS ARRIVING AND PEOPLE GETTING ON COMMUTERS ON CROWDED TUBE PLATFORM FEET ON PLATFORM TRAIN COMING IN PEOPLE GETTING ON TUBE TRAIN PEOPLE ON CROWDED TRAIN AS MAN SQUEEZES THROUGH CLOSING DOORS DISPLAY AT COMMUTER TRAIN PLATFORM READING "REDUCED TRAIN TRAFFIC DUE
- Embargoed: 30th November 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA4NKZWM04NGJAWE49XDVND5FCD
- Story Text: German train drivers escalated a 62-hour strike early on Thursday (November 15), adding disruption to passenger services to a freight stoppage in a long-running dispute with rail operator Deutsche Bahn.
The strike, which has raised fears about the impact on Europe's biggest economy, is the worst in Deutsche Bahn's history. The freight stoppages started at 1100 GMT on Wednesday (November 14) and brought goods trains in east Germany to a standstill.
The passenger train strike began at 0100 GMT on Thursday. Both strikes will end at 0100 GMT on Saturday (November 17).
Roads were clogged on Thursday with heavy traffic in Berlin and many cities as commuters turned to alternative transport.
But Deutsche Bahn said many long-haul trains were running. German railways transport some five million passengers each day.
"We can take the pressure for a long time" Deutsche Bahn spokesman Karl-Friedrich Rausch told journalists. "We want to negotiate, we do not need this strike. This strike is pointless because it could have been solved a while ago. They're trying to force us to an unconditional surrender. That's not going to happen" Rausch added.
Economists say the strike on freight routes costs the economy 50 million euros (73.3 million U.S. dollars) a day and could rise to 500 million euros if the strikes last more than a week.
Deutsche Bahn said it drafted in 1,000 workers to help provide replacement services and it wanted to keep many international and long-distance passenger trains running.
The company says it expects up to 50 percent of regional trains will run. Around 20 percent of urban trains will run in Berlin and 40 percent in Hamburg, Deutsche Bahn said.
The GDL, which says its workers are underpaid compared to drivers in other European countries, is demanding that Deutsche Bahn makes a new wage offer.
The smallest of three rail workers' unions, the GDL has staged a series of strikes over the last few months, mostly on local and regional services.
It has raised the prospect of open-ended strikes if it sees no new offer. Deutsche Bahn says it is not prepared to make another wage offer.
The union wants its own wage deal for its 34,000 drivers, separate from one agreed by the railway's other 195,000 workers in July which gave them a
5 percent pay rise.
The GDL has said it could negotiate its initial demand for a 31 percent wage increase if it gets its own contract. Deutsche Bahn wants to keep its employees under a sector-wide agreement.
Economists say that if GDL gets its own contract, it could fragment Germany's unions and push up labour costs by encouraging other workers to push for separate wage deals. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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