Hundreds of thousands of passengers in Germany faced travel misery on Thursday as rail and airport workers staged fresh strikes to back demands for higher wages.
Europe’s top economy has been troubled by industrial action for months, as workers and management in many sectors fight for terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.
Work stoppages affected transport, supermarkets and public administration, among other areas of public life.
For the fifth time since November 2023, rail workers downed their tools, starting a 35-hour strike on freight services at 17:00 GMT on Wednesday and on passenger services at 01:00 GMT on Thursday morning.
The duration of the strike is intended to underline a key demand by the train drivers’ union GDL to reduce the working week to 35 hours from 38.
Reinhard Ligoski, who eventually arrived at Berlin Central Station on a train from the Ruhr Valley, said average Germans continued to be caught in the middle of an increasingly violent conflict.
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“Negotiators on both sides should not resolve their long-standing dispute over passengers,” he said.
“No longer reliable”
Railway employees have held repeated strikes to demand a pay rise to help members manage the higher cost of living in light of inflation.
A strike by train drivers in January caused travel disruption for thousands of passengers for several days.
This more limited strike was the start of a “wave of strikes,” GDL chief Claus Weselsky said this week.
Future action will be announced “when we think the time is right,” rather than 48 hours in advance as has been the case in the past, Weselsky said.
“Railways are no longer a reliable means of transport,” with the sit-in strikes, he warned.
Rail company Deutsche Bahn condemned the walkout, saying it had made concessions amounting to a 13 percent pay rise.
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Company spokesman Achim Stauss told public broadcaster ZDF that only around 20% of long-distance trains were running, with “big differences between regions”.
Weselsky’s hard line has been criticized, with Transport Minister Volker Wissing saying he is losing patience with industrial action.
“Those who exercise their right to strike must also take responsibility and that means negotiating constructively,” he told public broadcaster ARD.
“Damage” effects
Meanwhile, Lufthansa’s ground staff went on a nationwide strike from 0300 GMT on Thursday, which will last until 0610 GMT on Saturday. The company said it was only able to maintain “10 to 20 percent of the flight schedule.”
Frankfurt, Germany’s biggest air hub, will experience “major disruptions and flight cancellations throughout the day,” the airport said in a statement, adding that it would be closed to all outbound passengers.
An unannounced strike by security staff at Dusseldorf airport caused further chaos, with passengers stuck in huge queues and a number of flights cancelled.
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The Lufthansa strike is expected to further disrupt the airline’s services at other airports.
An earlier one-day strike affected about 100,000 passengers, with 80 to 90 percent of flights grounded.
Workers’ representatives and management are blaming each other for the travel disruption.
The Verdi union is seeking 12.5 percent wage increases for workers, at least 500 euros ($542) more a month.
Lufthansa has offered wage increases for a long time, but not enough to meet Verdi’s demands, the union said.
The carrier reported record profits for 2023 on Thursday but warned of the “damaging” impact of the wave of industrial action earlier this year.
After ground staff, cabin crew were expected to stage their own strike in the coming weeks after pay talks were scrapped on Wednesday.
Source: AFP