Freight traffic will be affected for days to come
GDL warning strike ended – rail traffic increases
November 16, 2023, 6:35 p.m
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After 20 hours, the warning strike by the German Locomotive Drivers Union is over. Passenger and freight traffic were affected. Especially in the latter case, it could take days until normality returns.
The 20-hour warning strike by the German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) has officially ended. The service has been running again since 6 p.m., as a GDL spokesman confirmed upon request. However, passengers will still have to expect restrictions on rail traffic as the evening and night progresses. Only when operations begin early on Friday morning will everything in passenger transport nationwide be running largely smoothly again. The railway announced before the end of the warning strike that impacts on freight transport could still be expected in the coming days.
Since late Wednesday evening, the GDL has brought large parts of long-distance, regional and freight transport to a standstill with the warning strike. Thousands of trains were canceled and passengers were severely disrupted throughout Thursday.
The effects of the warning strike varied in regional transport; in some regions there were virtually no trains running on Thursday morning. On Thursday morning, the railway announced that, with very few regional exceptions, “at least a limited train service everywhere” had been ensured. “In some cases there is an emergency bus service,” it said. Because dispatchers who coordinate nationwide rail traffic also took part in the strike, there were also restrictions on other transport companies that were not directly on strike.
Positions diverge
After the first warning strike, the main question now in the room is a possible strike vote among union members on indefinite strikes, which Weselsky had repeatedly brought into play before the collective bargaining dispute began last week. “We have to decide that now,” the union boss said on Thursday. “We are waiting today to see whether the employer side will continue to refuse.”
The union is demanding, among other things, 555 euros more per month and an inflation compensation bonus. The crux of the negotiations, however, is the GDL’s demand for a reduction in working hours from 38 to 35 hours per week for shift workers with full wage compensation. The railway rejects this as impossible. So far it offers an eleven percent wage increase over a term of 32 months and the inflation compensation premium required by the GDL. After a first round of negotiations last week and the first industrial dispute, both sides are still a long way from reaching an agreement.