The German rail operator Deutsche Bahn has taken urgent legal action in an effort to stop a strike by a train drivers’ union.
The GDL trade union, which has about 40,000 members and represents train drivers and other rail workers, announced a strike this week – its sixth in a months-long dispute over wages and hours.
On Monday, Deutsche Bahn filed an urgent application before a labour court in Frankfurt in an attempt to halt the newly announced strike. The strikes have had a significant impact on transport.
Martin Seiler, Deutsche Bahn’s human resources director, said in a statement that the 22-hour warning time was “far too short” for goods traffic. He said: “We consider these wave of strikes to be disproportionate.
“This unpredictability of train services is unacceptable. People have to get to work, goods have to get to the factories, coal has to get to the power plants. Without the railway, nothing works in this country.”
Germany’s national audit office has described Deutsche Bahn as being in “permanent crisis”. The company, which is wholly owned by Germany’s federal government, has a debt of more than €30bn (£25.6bn).
During a previous round of strikes, Deutsche Bahn accused GDL of “holding the country hostage” and argued that its demands would increase the company’s wage bill by 50%.
The repeated disruptions to passenger and freight transport have come at a time when Germany has been experiencing a surge in strikes and protests, from Lufthansa staff to climate activists to farmers.
In a statement on Sunday, the GDL union said it was aware of its responsibility for the railway system and insisted that its actions were proportionate, underscoring the fact that the right to strike was protected.
The group said it was planning to strike from 2am on Tuesday for 24 hours, and that action for freight transport would begin at 6pm on Monday.
On Monday, Claus Weselsky, the boss of GDL, said the union would go ahead with a series of strikes called at short notice, Reuters reported. He said: “We will not say how much we will strike and until when.”
