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After their three-day strike on the railways, the train drivers’ union GDL threatened Deutsche Bahn with a new and even longer industrial action. “After completing these strike measures, we will give the company some time to reflect,” GDL boss Claus Weselsky said in Berlin on Friday evening at the end of the latest strike. “If they don’t, the next industrial action will follow. It will take longer and it will hit the company even harder.” Weselsky did not give a date for the next strike.

The strike at Deutsche Bahn ended at 6 p.m. Even after that, restrictions were still to be expected. According to our own information, the railway is preparing to be put into use on Saturday, so that it can run according to plan again. DB spokeswoman Anja Bröker advised passengers to reserve seats for long-distance journeys at the weekend, because full trains could be expected after three days of strikes.

At DB competitor Transdev, the strike ended surprisingly on Friday at 12 noon. In a new offer, the company assured the union that it would “seriously negotiate on all core demands of the current collective bargaining round,” the GDL said. Transdev confirmed the new offer and announced negotiations for next Monday. The company operates regional railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Saxony and Bavaria, among others.

Weselsky expects concessions from the DB

The GDL’s main demand for both companies is to reduce working hours from 38 to 35 hours for shift workers with full wage compensation. Bahn and Transdev have so far rejected this. The GDL therefore declared that negotiations for both companies had failed before the New Year. Some smaller railway companies, Netinera and Go Ahead, already have a deal that reflects the GDL’s demand.

There can only be a resumption of collective bargaining if the railroads show openness to the core demands, Weselsky said. So far, Deutsche Bahn has only offered to expand existing working time models. Anyone who reduces their working hours in this context must accept financial losses.

Ready for negotiations

The railroad, in turn, called on the GDL to return to the negotiating table. “We are ready to negotiate, we are ready to talk,” said DB spokeswoman Bröker. “It is now also up to the GDL to get back to the table. Strikes to enforce all demands, that is not how collective bargaining works.”

The third and longest labor dispute to date in the collective labor agreement dispute with the railways started early on Wednesday morning in passenger transport and on Tuesday evening in freight transport. According to its own information, the railway has put more than 20 percent of the usual long-distance transport on the track with an emergency timetable. In regional transport, the effects of the strike varied greatly per state. (sda/dpa)