- The German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) is calling on its members for another strike.
- The organization announced this in a statement published on Monday night.
- The GDL members of all Deutsche Bahn (DB) companies should stop work from next Wednesday at 2 a.m.
The union members at DB Cargo, which is responsible for freight transport, are scheduled to begin striking as early as Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. The strike is scheduled to last until Monday next week at 6 p.m. “With the third and supposedly improved offer, Deutsche Bahn AG has once again shown that it is undeterred in pursuing its previous course of refusal and confrontation – there is no trace of any desire to reach agreement,” says the GDL statement.
Legend:
The previous strikes in the current collective bargaining dispute caused thousands of train cancellations.
DPA/Christian Charisius (archive)
The GDL and the railway have been in a wage dispute since last November. According to public statements, the GDL’s central demand is a reduction in working hours for shift workers from 38 to 35 hours, with full wage compensation. The railway considers the demand to be unfulfillable on this scale, also because too many new staff would then be needed.
Third offer submitted on Friday
The GDL declared the talks had failed after the second round of negotiations and called for two warning strikes. After a strike vote among members on indefinite strikes, work was stopped for three days in a row in January. The three labor disputes always caused thousands of train cancellations in passenger transport and long backlogs in freight transport.
Last Friday, Deutsche Bahn made a new offer to the train drivers’ union. The company offered the union, among other things, another choice model for working hours. DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler said on Friday that under the offer, employees could choose to work one hour less with full pay from January 1, 2026. Anyone who decides against the reduction will receive 2.7 percent more money.
“The GDL will evaluate this offer and then decide on how to proceed,” the union announced last week. She has called a press conference for today, Monday.