DThe labor court in Frankfurt am Main gave the green light for a strike by Deutsche Bahn train drivers on Monday evening. The court rejected the company’s urgent application for an interim injunction once morest the renewed industrial action and classified the strike as permissible. Deutsche Bahn then announced that it would appeal. “DB will now have the verdict reviewed in the second instance before the Hessian State Labor Court,” the company said in a statement. “In the interest of our customers, we are doing everything we can to stop the wave strike.”
The GDL federal chairman Claus Weselsky explained following the decision: “The court has confirmed it once once more: the GDL strikes are proportionate, permissible, legal and therefore suitable for pursuing the legitimate demands of the railway workers through industrial action.” The The train drivers’ union now hopes “that the Hesse State Labor Court will confirm the legality of our industrial action,” he said.
The labor court’s decision came just over three hours following the freight rail strike began at 6 p.m. on Monday evening. A railway spokesman said that there have been significant restrictions since then. “The cargo companies have been on strike across the board since then.” On Tuesday from 2 a.m. the industrial action will be expanded to include passenger transport. There will then be significant restrictions for passengers on long-distance and regional rail transport. As with previous strikes, every fifth long-distance train is in use – Deutsche Bahn is working with an emergency timetable.
Meanwhile, Economics Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck from the Greens criticized the wage dispute between the railways and train drivers. In the newspaper “Tagesspiegel” he called for a quick agreement: “The rail strike must not lead to the collective bargaining dispute between the union and the railway being fought out for weeks at the expense of the economy and passengers. With all due respect – I no longer understand that.” He continued: “It’s regarding millions of commuters who have to get to their jobs and large quantities of goods that our economy and therefore the country urgently needs.”
The train drivers’ union (GDL) is fighting for higher salaries and fewer working hours. The sticking point is also the requirement that shift workers should work 35 hours instead of 38 hours a week for the same money. The GDL no longer announces new strikes 48 hours before the start, but rather at short notice. There was not a whole day in between this strike on Monday evening or Tuesday morning. The GDL has not ruled out strikes over Easter either.
German head of state affected by strike
The Federal President’s Office also had to replan Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s business trips: On Tuesday, the Federal President is scheduled to travel to East Westphalia, which he will now undertake by helicopter. Given the tight schedule planned for his three-day visit to the town of Espelkamp in the Minden-Lübbecke district, it would be too risky to rely on the railway in view of the announced rail strike, the Federal President’s Office said on Monday. Because the highways are expected to be full, the car is not a good alternative either. Instead, Steinmeier will fly by helicopter to Bückeburg in Lower Saxony, regarding 40 kilometers away, and from there drive to the destination.
A spokesman for the Federal President emphasized that the helicopter is “not the means of transport of choice for scheduled appointments.” It is only used extremely rarely. The head of state originally wanted to travel by train to Espelkamp train station. As part of the “Local Time Germany” series, the Federal President is moving his official residence from Berlin to a region for several days for the tenth time.
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