Start of train drivers’ strike adds to German transport disruption

A national train drivers’ strike has significantly disrupted travel in Germany, two days after the start of protests by farmers that blocked motorways and high streets across the country.

The three-day strike by the GDL union led to the cancellation of 80 per cent of long-distance trains, according to Deutsche Bahn, the state-owned rail operator. It began at 2am local time on Wednesday and is due to last until 6pm on Friday. Freight services were stopped the previous evening.

Millions of commuters stayed at home rather than face disruption to their journeys, and reports said many train stations were empty on Wednesday morning.

Deutsche Bahn’s conflict with the GDL is turning into one of Germany’s bitterest industrial disputes in recent years and, if left unresolved, could pile pressure on a coalition government already suffering from rock-bottom approval ratings.

Commuters in the EU’s largest economy have also been enduring disruption from a farmers’ protest against government cuts to agricultural subsidies. The “week of action” that began on Monday has blocked traffic on several of Germany’s main transport arteries.

“This strike is completely unnecessary and also irresponsible in a week that is already highly charged and difficult for our customers,” said Anja Bröker, DB’s spokesperson. “Mobility in Germany faces major challenges this week . . . [and] a three-day strike is a real imposition on our passengers.”

The strike is the third by GDL after it began its latest round of action last November. The rail operator had sought in vain to avert the strike by securing a temporary injunction against GDL, but its application in a labour court in the central state of Hesse was turned down.

GDL is demanding a cut in weekly working time from 38 to 35 hours, on full pay — a move it says would make shift work more attractive to would-be trainee drivers.

But DB fears a reduction in the working week would exacerbate a chronic shortage of train drivers. It says it is prepared to let employees work fewer hours, though only with a corresponding cut in pay.

GDL had promised not to strike over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, after a short warning strike in December. But it said in a statement that DB management had not used the so-called “Christmas peace” to come up with an acceptable offer that could provide a basis for negotiation.

GDL boss Claus Weselsky said the latest “improved” offer from DB contained “nothing substantial”, telling public broadcaster ZDF: “It’s a provocation.”

He said the union was prepared to “compromise and reduce weekly working hours gradually”, but if an unacceptable offer had not been made by Friday “we’ll have a pause and then initiate our next industrial action”.

GDL members had voted on December 19 for indefinite strikes, though Weselsky has described this as a “no-go” in view of the impact on passengers and the economic consequences. He told the Rheinische Post newspaper that the union would instead limit itself to strikes of “three to five days”.

The GDL’s longest strike was in 2015, when train drivers stopped work for five days and seven hours.