Germany’s rail network and five of its airports—three of which are among the country’s busiest—were brought to a standstill on Friday, April 21st, as the unions representing rail workers and airport security staff staged strikes over pay disputes.
The EVG union, which serves railway workers, staged a “warning strike” between 3 a.m. and 11 a.m.—the morning rush period—due to an ongoing dispute between the state-owned Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s man train operator, and its workers, the German news outlet Tagesschau reports.
The strike affects all Deutsche Bahn-operated services throughout Germany, including regional trains, long-distance trains, and S-Bahn services.
The union says that the “warning strike” is meant to pressure employers—Deutsche Bahn and the other 50 companies affected by the strike—to provide railway employees with pay raises to help them cope with high inflation.
EVG has called on Deutsche Bahn to raise workers’ salaries by 12%, or by a minimum of €650 a month, to help address rising inflation and cost-of-living increases. Deutsche Bahn has rejected the union’s demand, instead offering workers a 5% pay increase and a one-off payment of €2,500. Negotiations between the two parties are set to begin again on Tuesday, April 25th.
“We are sending a clear signal that we don’t want to hit the passengers, but the companies, by calling for a temporary warning strike in the early hours this time,” said Cosima Ingenschay, an EVG board member.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bahn has called the strike “pointless and unnecessary,” accusing the union of using it to gain an advantage in a contentious, long-term rivalry with another rail union.
Ver.di, Germany’s second-largest union which represents the security staff at airports in Hamburg, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, also staged a strike on Friday over a pay dispute, causing more than 90,000 passengers to be affected by flight cancellations.
As of last month, Germany recorded a 7.4% inflation rate. Despite still remaining quite high, the figure has fallen from an 8.8% high recorded last October. According to Eurostat’s latest report on inflation across the European Union, inflation rates in Germany are slightly less than the bloc’s average.
Following the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war in late February of 2022, Europe has witnessed a large uptick in consumer prices as a result of sky-high energy costs.
