24 hours from Tuesday 2 a.m. – GDL union announces another rail strike in Germany – News

• The German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) has called for the next strike in the collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Bahn (DB).
• The GDL announced on Sunday evening that work would be stopped for 24 hours from 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
• The strike in freight transport will begin on Monday, March 11th at 6 p.m. and will end on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

There are just over 24 hours between the GDL’s announcement and the start of the strike. Union leader Claus Weselsky had already announced before the last strike that he would give Deutsche Bahn and its passengers significantly less time in advance in order to prepare for the industrial action.

The DB had previously allowed a deadline set by the union of Sunday evening, 6 p.m., to submit a new written offer to pass. This would “inevitably lead to industrial action,” said union boss Claus Weselsky, who said the railway was responsible for what was now the sixth strike in this round of collective bargaining.

Shortly before the deadline expired, the DB invited the GDL again to new negotiations to resolve the deadlocked collective bargaining strike. “We are convinced that we will only be able to reach an agreement through dialogue at the negotiating table,” explained their human resources director in Berlin. In the event of a rejection by the GDL, the company suggested formal arbitration.

No progress at the negotiating table

The GDL has already gone on strike five times in the current collective bargaining round; the fifth strike lasting 35 hours only ended on Friday afternoon. Another round of negotiations had previously failed last week.

The DB then asked the GDL to resume negotiations on the basis of a mediation proposal. However, the union rejected this and described the proposal as unacceptable. The GDL’s core demand in the collective bargaining dispute with the railway is the gradual introduction of a 35-hour week with full wage compensation.