FRANKFURT (APP) – German rail operator Deutsche Bahn cancelled two thirds of long-distance passenger services Wednesday as train drivers began an open-ended walkout that will last at least one week.
The strike, the ninth in a protracted dispute, had actually begun on Tuesday, initially affecting freight trains, but was extended to passenger services from 0000 GMT on Wednesday.
It is the latest flareup in a battle over wages, work hours and negotiating rights between the small GdL union and national rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB).
In early May the union staged a nearly week-long walkout, the longest in DB’s history, which industry groups estimated cost Europe’s top economy almost half a billion euros ($550 million).
The GdL, which represents some 20,000 train drivers, is demanding a wage rise and shorter work hours as well as the right to represent other rail workers such as conductors and restaurant carriage staff.
That demand is effectively a turf war with the larger railway union EVG, which has more than 200,000 members, and which is now involved in separate, less heated, wage negotiations with DB.
