Passengers in Germany today are faced with new problems in transportation due to the simultaneous strike of “Deutsche Bahn” and “Lufthansa”.
Deutsche Welle states that “Deutsche Bahn”, the national railway carrier, has announced that only 20 percent of its long-distance trains run.
It is stated that the strike, which was organized by the GDL trade union, affects both regional and suburban railway traffic.
In addition to them, the Lufthansa cabin crew in Frankfurt, where the busiest airport in Germany is located, also decided to stop working.
About 600 flights were canceled due to this strike, and “Lufthansa” announced that up to 70,000 passengers lost their lives because of it. Today’s 24-hour strike is said to be the sixth in a row in recent months by train drivers and other railway workers over a dispute over wages and working hours.
The GDL union demands that the number of working hours be reduced from 38 to 35 per week without reducing wages.
After several weeks of negotiations, GDL rejected the proposal to reduce the number of working hours from 38 to 36 gradually until 2028.
“Striking instead of negotiating is unacceptable,” Folker Vissing, Minister of Transport in the government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, told Bild.
It is said that the Lufthansa cabin crew union (UFO) has been told that their strike will not only affect Frankfurt airport, but also Munich, where flight suspensions are expected tomorrow.
A total of 1,000 flights should be canceled in two days.
The UFO union is demanding a 15 percent salary increase with new negotiations to be held after 18 months, as well as a one-time aid of 3,000 euros for its approximately 18,000 members due to the effects of inflation, Kurir reports.
