Rail and air travelers must be prepared for massive cancellations shortly before the weekend. In the wage dispute with the railways, the railway and transport union (EVG) wants to paralyze rail transport nationwide for the second time. On Friday, long-distance travelers and weekend commuters would have to adjust to train cancellations and delays again, union representatives told Reuters on Tuesday.

Even in circles of the railway, the strike before the weekend is expected, it was said in the group. Regardless of this, the airports in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Cologne/Bonn will be on strike by the Verdi trade union on Thursday and Friday. The aviation industry criticized the renewed strike.

Both EVG and Deutsche Bahn have invited to press conferences on Wednesday. The union did not initially provide any further information. At the end of March, the EVG and Verdi for the public sector had already gone on strike on the same day, paralyzing almost all public transport.

Now the EVG will strike alone, but will affect all of the 50 or so railway companies. Since signal boxes and stations are also on strike, an extensive standstill in long-distance, local and freight traffic is to be expected from Friday night. The strike is being carried out because employers such as Deutsche Bahn have so far remained immobile in the collective bargaining talks, the EVG said.

Offer rejected as insufficient

In the public sector, there is now an arbitration award, which Deutsche Bahn also wants to use as a guide. Wage increases with a total volume of more than ten percent were suggested. The arbitrators proposed a tax-free inflation compensation allowance of 2024 euros paid out in several installments until February 3000, with a first payment in June 2023. However, the EDC had rejected this at the weekend as insufficient.

In the invitation to the press conference, the inadequate offers of the employers were criticized: "Therefore, in the short term, we must exert more pressure on the employers, who still think they can ignore the demands of the employees."

The union is negotiating for around 230,000 employees at 50 train and bus companies and insists on twelve percent more wages, but at least 650 euros a month more. The state-owned company had offered five percent more and one-off payments of up to 2500 euros.

Strikes at airports

Already on Thursday night, the trade union Verdi wants to paralyze the airports of Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Cologne/Bonn with strikes among aviation security personnel. Longer waiting times up to flight cancellations or cancellations are to be expected, Verdi said. The industrial action applies to employees in the aviation security sector who work in passenger control, personnel and goods control and in service areas. The strike will begin in the night from Wednesday to Thursday and end in the night from Friday to Saturday.

Hamburg Airport announced that all departures would be cancelled due to the warning strike on Thursday and Friday. According to the current status, 152 departures on Thursday and 156 on Friday would have to be cancelled or take place without passengers. Landings are still possible. However, flight cancellations and delays must also be expected for arrivals. A total of almost 80,000 passengers were affected on both days in Hamburg.

Negotiations on better time bonuses for years

Verdi has been negotiating for years with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) to increase the time bonuses for night, Saturday, Sunday and holiday work and to enforce better pay for overtime. Despite the recent strikes, there has been no breakthrough so far. Negotiations are scheduled to resume on 27 and 28 April.

In Berlin, representatives of the "Last Generation" have also announced traffic disruptions. From Wednesday onwards, protest actions will first be concentrated in the government district, and then hit the entire city by next week. The activists are best known for sticking themselves to the streets to protest against climate-damaging traffic.

The Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) criticized that the ongoing sequence of strikes at various airports in Germany no longer had anything to do with warning strikes. "With the renewed strikes, the unions are complicating the intensive preparations for summer travel," said BDL Managing Director Matthias von Randow. "The victims are the travelers and also our companies, which are now recommitted to smooth flight operations after the pandemic-related travel restrictions," von Randow continued.

In the first three months of this year alone, according to the BDL, there was a strike at an airport on about every eleventh day. Due to the large-scale strike on March 26 and 27, 2023, around 3500 flights would have had to be canceled on these two days. This means that the number of flights cancelled due to strikes this year already significantly exceeds the number of flights cancelled in the whole of 2019. At that time, there were 3300 flights in the entire year, which, according to the BDL, could not take place due to strikes.