PNN – Since last night, the longest strike in the history of the German railway company by the locomotive drivers’ union has started for 6 days, which can lead to severe disturbances and chaos.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network and quoted by “D Site” magazine, the longest strike of the German train drivers’ union has started since last night.
This is the longest strike in the history of Deutsche Bahn. This time the GDL train drivers’ union wants to strike for 6 days. Passenger transport has been on strike since Wednesday morning. Bar traffic has largely stopped since Tuesday evening. Because not only Deutsche Bahn employees, but also DB Cargo are on strike.
Deutsche Bahn spokesman Achim Staas said the GDL strike is also a strike against the German economy. Stas also said: This affects the supply chain and disrupts it. Various industrial companies also complained about the significant restrictions caused by the strike.
In this way, after cargo transportation, the German train drivers’ union GDL extended their strike to passenger transportation in Germany.
The Swiss railway company SBB advises citizens to postpone trips to or through Germany.
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The German Locomotive Union (GDL) wants to stop a large part of rail transport for about six days. This is the union’s fourth and longest strike to date. The industrial action is expected to last until Monday evening, marking the first time in the ongoing collective bargaining dispute that it has covered an entire weekend.
In addition to financial claims, the collective bargaining dispute revolves primarily around the issue of reduced weekly hours for shift workers. GDL wants to reduce this from 38 hours to 35 hours and keep wages the same.
It is expected that in the shadow of these strikes, there will be major disruptions in road, regional and cargo transportation. Deutsche Bahn has announced an emergency timetable. “For these journeys, DB uses longer trains with more seats to reach as many people as possible,” the statement said.
SBB announced on Monday that it is developing an alternative concept for the Swiss section of the route. The aim is to ensure that domestic transport is not affected where possible.
Lufthansa Airlines records more demand on domestic routes in Germany due to the strike. Lufthansa’s parent company in Frankfurt said there were “some extra bookings” for the strike period. Lufthansa sometimes uses larger aircraft to offer travel options to as many customers as possible. The Eurowings subsidiary has also announced a sharp increase in demand on domestic routes in Germany. In this situation, the price of rental cars has also increased sharply.
As a result of the train drivers’ strike, the German industry is expecting huge problems for freight companies. Tania Gunner, director general of the German Federal Association of Industry, told the German Press Agency in Berlin: There is a risk of severe restrictions, including production stoppages, reductions and shutdowns in the industry. In a six-day strike, total damage of up to one billion euros is not unrealistic.
In addition to operational and economic damage, there will be “significant damage to the image” of rail transportation, Gunner said. According to him, doubts about the reliability of the rail infrastructure, which has been reduced recently, continue to grow and the attractiveness of the system for logistics decision makers is increasingly reduced.
Gunner described rail transportation as the backbone of many key industries such as chemicals, steel, automobiles, paper and wood. The strike will particularly affect the connectivity and supply of production sites in the region, rail-dependent transport processes, such as the transport of sensitive goods, as well as the delivery of raw materials and exports.