German train drivers begin longest walkout in 20 years

A Deutsche Bahn inter-city express arrives at Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin on Nov 5, 2014. (Photo: AFP/John Macdougall)

FRANKFURT: German train drivers walked out in their longest strike in 20 years on Wednesday (Nov 5), rejecting a proposal of arbitration and threatening to plunge the country into travel chaos this weekend.

The GDL train drivers' union turned down an offer by the management of rail operator Deutsche Bahn to take the dispute to arbitration, and began an unprecedented five-day stoppage. The strike will start on national freight services on Wednesday afternoon and spread to passenger services on Thursday.

In addition to the incalculable economic fallout from the industrial action, the stoppages will hit the weekend celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. As many as two million visitors were expected to travel to the German capital, many by train. Not only nationwide rail services, but local suburban or S-Bahn train networks in Berlin and other major cities across the country will also be affected.

Deutsche Bahn, which slammed the strike as "out of proportion" and "stupid", said it was hoping to maintain around one third of services, but has warned that major delays could be expected.

ARBITRATION OFFER

Earlier, Deutsche Bahn had tabled an offer to take the dispute to arbitration, with each side appointing an independent arbitrator. "We must find a way back to sensible relations between both sides," the company said. Deutsche Bahn gave GDL until 8:00pm (3am Thursday, Singapore time) to decide whether to accept the proposal and call off the strikes. But the union rejected the proposal.

GDL has come under fierce criticism from all quarters for its industrial action, since it is only a small union with around 19,000 members, compared with a total Deutsche Bahn workforce of 196,000 in Germany and more than 300,000 worldwide.

Deutsche Bahn described the renewed walkout as "pure bullying". "While people in Germany are looking forward to celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall on Nov 9, GDL wants to paralyse public life in our country with the longest strike in the history of Deutsche Bahn," the company's head of personnel, Ulrich Weber, raged.

GDL has accused Deutsche Bahn of stonewalling in talks over workers' demands for a five-per cent wage hike and a shorter working week of 37 hours. Union leaders also want to represent other groups of employees within Deutsche Bahn such as conductors, catering staff, dispatchers, and not just drivers.

Travellers in Germany have also been hit recently by repeated walkouts by pilots working for airlines within the Lufthansa group. The government is working on legislation to stop small groups of employees from crippling large parts of the country's transport infrastructure, such as rail and air travel. A draft law is expected this month.

LOW PUBLIC SUPPORT

The mass-circulation daily Bild accused GDL and its leader Claus Weselsky of being power mad. Overall public support of the train drivers seems to be low. "Normally everyone, including politicians, feels some sort of solidarity with strikers. But in this case, it's a conflict about more influence. That can't be the aim of a strike," said Soeren Bartol, responsible for transport issues within the Social Democrat SPD party.

Other unions, including the DGB trade union federation, have also distanced themselves from the GDL. Industry associations are increasingly concerned about the negative effects the industrial action will have on the economy as a whole, particularly at a time when the German economy - Europe's biggest - is struggling with slowing growth.

Several days of strikes will hit production "because rail transport can't simply be replaced by road or river transport," said Achim Dercks of the DIHK chambers of commerce federation. The chemicals sector will be particularly hard-hit, but also the auto and metal-working sectors, because "they effectively have no alternative means of transport," said the BGA Federation of German Federation of Wholesale and Foreign Trade.

Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that unions had a right to strike, but that that right had to be carried out "responsibly" and "with a sense of proportion".