(Berlin) Train drivers have kicked off the longest strike on German railways which will paralyze traffic for six days and will undoubtedly cost Europe’s largest economy hundreds of millions of euros.
The strike, caused by a dispute over wages and working hours, began at 2 a.m. Wednesday (8 p.m. Eastern Time) in passenger transport and on Tuesday evening for freight. The movement is scheduled to end Monday, January 29 at 6 p.m. (12 p.m. Eastern).
Transport Minister Volker Wissing called it “destructive” as Germany, where GDP contracted by 0.3% last year, is falling behind in international competition.
According to Deutsche Bahn (DB), this will be the longest strike by train drivers in Germany, breaking a previous record from May 2015. It is the fourth strike since November 2023, amid stalled negotiations between the DB and the GDL union of locomotive drivers.
The prolonged action “is also a strike against the German economy,” said DB spokeswoman Anja Bröker, warning of the impact on supply chains.
If the railway operator wants to strive to guarantee deliveries to power plants and refineries, disruptions in the supply of automobile, chemical or steel factories cannot be ruled out.
With six European rail freight corridors, Germany is a hub for freight traffic and DB Cargo, DB’s freight subsidiary, operates around 20,000 trains per week serving much of the continent.
“Even after the end of a strike, it will take several days or even weeks for the European network to be operational” according to the DB assessment.
“A one-day national strike in the railways can cost up to one hundred million euros per day” to German economic production, estimates economist Michael Grömling, of the IW Cologne institute, close to employers.
Multiplication of social conflicts
This rail paralysis occurs in an already tense context for the logistics sector due to slowdowns and additional costs in the maritime transport of goods caused by the bypass of the Red Sea, at the heart of a security crisis.
“In extreme cases, the cost of this strike could reach one billion euros,” says Mr. Grömling.
For the Deutsche Bahn group, each day of strike results in costs estimated in tens of millions of euros, a spokesperson told AFP.
The company claims to have “made concessions” and a final “generous offer of up to 13%” of salary increases with the possibility of a reduction in working hours.
The GDL union, a minority within the company of some 211,000 employees, on the contrary criticizes DB for “relentlessly pursuing its policy of refusal and confrontation”.
In addition to salary increases to compensate for inflation, GDL is also demanding a move to a 35-hour week over four days, compared to the current 38 hours a week.
The public company, which had already proposed an 11% salary increase and an inflation bonus, presented a new offer last week making possible a move to 37 hours a week for the same salary – or an additional salary increase of 2 .7% for those who would keep the same hourly volume.
With the majority EVG union, which represents some 180,000 agents in other rail professions, Deutsche Bahn reached an agreement on salaries at the end of August, after several staff work stoppages.
Germany, regularly cited as an example for the quality of its social dialogue, has recently experienced an increase in social conflicts. Important professional branches of industry and services have conducted tense wage negotiations in a context of price increases which are undermining the purchasing power of employees.
These social movements are also weakening the government coalition of Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz, struggling with record unpopularity.