Strikes paralyze traffic in Germany on Monday – these are the consequences in Switzerland

This Monday, Germany will be largely at a standstill – on the railways, on rivers and at airports: the Verdi trade union and the railway and transport union (EVG) have called for a large-scale nationwide warning strike in the transport sector for this day.

Affected are long-distance and regional rail traffic, almost all German airports, waterways and ports, as well as the motorway company, as both unions announced on Thursday in Berlin.

“The all-day strike usually starts in the night of March 26-27 at 00:00 and ends at 24:00,” said both unions. Connections to and from Switzerland are also affected – an overview.

Trains

As a result of the warning strike, Deutsche Bahn announced on Monday that it would have to halt all long-distance traffic. Also in regional traffic “there will usually be no trains running”, the group said on Thursday.

“According to statements by the union, the first effects of striking workers are already possible on Sunday evening,” it sounds. The warning strike will therefore have consequences for train traffic on Tuesday.

Trains from Switzerland are also affected by the dispute. Due to Monday 27 March, the ICEs, night trains and regional trains to and from Germany will be cancelled. Due to the railway strike in Germany, the SBB will replace numerous cross-border trains next Monday – but only in Switzerland itself. They advise against traveling to the northern neighboring country on the day of the strike.

National train traffic will therefore not be affected by the strike, says SBB media spokeswoman Fabienne Wittwer on Thursday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.

SBB advises against traveling to Germany on the day of the strike. Because on Monday, ICE connections as well as night trains and regional trains to and from Germany were canceled, according to Wittwer. There are individual dropouts on Sunday and Tuesday.

airplanes

In the Verdi organizational area, employees of all German commercial airports, except Berlin, have been asked to leave. As a result of the union action, air traffic will be limited throughout the period.

The company that operates Frankfurt Airport has already announced that there will be no regular flights on Monday. “All tasks enabling full flight operations” were suspended due to the warning strike, Fraport announced on Thursday.

“Fraport therefore urges passengers not to travel to the airport.” Even transfer traffic could not continue at the largest German airport. According to Fraport, about 1,170 takeoffs and landings with a total of about 160,000 passengers were originally planned that day.

Regular flights on Sunday and Monday were also not possible at Munich airport due to the labor dispute, the operator announced. «On Sunday, 737 take-offs and landings were scheduled at Munich Airport. Monday there would be 772 flight movements on the program.

Here too, the strike is likely to have direct consequences for travelers from Switzerland. However, its size is still unclear. Zurich Airport had not received any cancellations due to the strike in Germany until early Thursday evening. However, it was still a bit early for that, wrote media spokeswoman Jasmin Bodmer-Breu when asked. She expects the airlines to decide on adjustments to flight schedules in the coming days.

Ships

The super strike day will also cause considerable inconvenience on the German waterways. “We are aware that locks are being closed on individual waterways,” a spokeswoman for the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV) told the German news agency on Thursday. “It can be assumed that there will be delays in shipping.”

According to the EVG, in addition to Deutsche Bahn, the railway companies Transdev, AKN, Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen, erixx, vlexx, eurobahn and Die Länderbahn are also affected on the track. According to its own statements, Deutsche Bahn expects “huge restrictions” for the entire railway operation. Long-distance, regional and S-Bahn traffic is likely to come to a standstill nationwide.

Verdi calls for public transport strikes in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and large parts of Bavaria.

highways

The road construction company is also on strike. “We will also look at certain tunnels,” said Christine Behle, Verdi’s deputy federal president. Fears that the tunnel could be closed were dismissed by the highway company on Thursday.

“Emergency service agreements are concluded for this, for example to prevent tunnel closures.” This also applies to the Elbe tunnel in Hamburg, which Behle cited as an example.

The backgrounds

With the actions, Verdi is increasing the pressure for the third round of negotiations with the federal and local governments, which starts on Monday. The union for the public sector, together with the civil service association dbb, is demanding 10.5 percent and at least 500 euros more wages.

At the end of February, the employers submitted a bid in the second round of negotiations. These include a wage increase of five percent in two steps and one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros.

At the end of February EVG started negotiations with Deutsche Bahn and about 50 other railway companies. The first round of negotiations with all companies was completed on Thursday.

The union had rejected an initial offer from Deutsche Bahn last week. (sda/awp/dpa)