German train drivers are off work again this morning and this will be the longest strike of German railways in history. The strike, which began this morning at 2:00 a.m. and is scheduled to last until the evening of Monday, January 29, is the fourth round of industrial action in the dispute between the train drivers’ union GDL and the railway operator Deutsche Bahn.
The strike comes just two weeks after a previous work stoppage, which almost completely paralyzed the nation’s rail traffic for a period of three days. “We think you have to come to the table, you have to find compromises. That’s the only way,” a Deutsche Bahn spokesman told reporters, pointing to the “massive impact on the economy” of the six-day strike.
At the same time, freight train drivers are on strike.
GDL leader Klaus Veselski told ARD that he was ready to compromise in the dispute over wages and working hours, but said that Deutsche Bahn’s offers were not enough.
“We have to strike longer and harder because the railway management is resistant to advice,” he said.
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