Railway workers are on strike in Germany. The two-day action was supported by 95% of the Deutsche Bahn train drivers union. Already in the evening on Tuesday, the work of freight transport will be limited, on Wednesday night - passenger transport.
In June, the management of the state concern refused to pay employees in connection with the pandemic one-time bonuses in the amount of 600 euros, as well as increase salaries by 3.2% by 2022.
“The machinists and conductors do not need this strike, but the leadership itself provoked it. They either do not offer solutions, or they make completely inappropriate suggestions. Thus, they put us in a stalemate and they are trying to make us greedy and not doing our job, ”says Klaus Weselsky, head of the German railroad machinists' union, GDL.
The management notes that they are ready to improve working conditions, but a little later - by March 2023.
“We disagree on the timing. But we are talking about typical issues, salary issues that should be discussed at the negotiating table, where solutions are sought, compromises are found. And this is precisely what the union still does not want, ”says Deutsche Bahn HR Director Martin Seiler.
Germany is on vacation, and the strike threatens to seriously disrupt the plans of thousands of Germans. The railroad workers are criticized for their decision too late: the strike became known only a few hours before it began.
“I am sorry that the decision to strike has been made. I don't have a car, I have to use public transport, ”says a local resident. You just want to get home, and then all these delays, waiting. ”
The German Ministry of Transport calls on railway workers to solidarity after a difficult period of pandemic downtime: last year, the company's losses amounted to 5.7 billion euros.
