FRANKFURT, Germany — National rail operator Deutsche Bahn is seeking an injunction to end the third strike in a month by German train drivers, saying the action is not within “the relevant legal framework.”
TheLocal.de reports the Frankfurt am Main labor court will hold a hearing on the injunction Thursday beginning at 6 p.m. local time (noon EDT). The strike began Wednesday with freight traffic and expanded to passenger service early Thursday. It is the third strike in less than a month, and is scheduled to be the longest, lasting through Sept. 7.
Deutsche Bahn said it had agreed to move up a 3.2% pay increase, which it had previously sought to grant in 2022 and 2023, and to pay a 600 Euro ($700) coronavirus bonus sought by the GDL union [see “Germany faces third national rail strike,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 31, 2021]. But the GDL turned down the offer, with its head, Claus Weselsky, saying, “No person and no union on this planet could accept this offer.”
Broadcaster DW reports Deutsche Bahn is attempting to keep about a quarter of its long-distance trains operating, along with about 40% of regional and suburban operations. The primary rail and transport union, EVG, has reached agreement with Deutsche Bahn, but the GDL considers that deal insufficient.
