Germany braces for new week of strikes in rail, air travel, ET TravelWorld

Germans faced more travel upheaval after train drivers announced Sunday a new 24-hour stoppage, hot on the heels of a strike announcement by Lufthansa cabin crew.

The GDL train drivers’ union said the latest strike affecting passenger services would start at 0100 GMT on Tuesday and last until 0100 GMT Wednesday.

For cargo services the strike would start a few hours earlier, the union said in a statement, blaming deadlocked talks with rail operator Deutsche Bahn.

The walkout will be the union’s sixth since November and comes less than a week after a 35-hour stoppage by its train drivers caused travel misery for thousands of rail passengers.

Adding to the chaos, Lufthansa cabin crew are set to walk off the job at Frankfurt airport on Tuesday, and at Munich airport on Wednesday.

The German airline group was already hit by a two-day strike by ground staff last week, as workers press demands for higher pay.

Europe‘s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across numerous sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

Lufthansa gives subdued 2024 outlook as labour disputes weigh

The airline said operating results this year would be on par with 2023, but Chief Financial Officer Remco Steenbergen said there was “no hard commitment” to meet a target for operating margins to hit 8 per cent for the year. They were 7.6 per cent in 2023. Steenbergen said the company would try to get “as close as possible” to the 8 per cent target, and would broadly keep the target even if Lufthansa doesn’t achieve it this year.

The GDL union said Deutsche Bahn had failed to come up with an improved written offer by a Sunday evening deadline, a move that “inevitably leads to industrial action”, GDL boss Claus Weselsky said.Deutsche Bahn had called earlier Sunday for a fresh round of talks on Monday.

“We are convinced that we will only succeed in reaching an agreement through dialogue at the negotiating table,” said Deutsche Bahn’s human resources director Martin Seiler.

As well as salary increases, the GDL union’s key demand is a reduced work week of 35 hours, down from 38 currently, at full pay.

Deutsche Bahn said it had made concessions amounting to up to 13 percent more pay, as well as the option of cutting the working week down to 37 hours starting in 2026.