FRANKFURT, Germany — A labor court rejected national rail operator Deutsche Bahn’s effort to end a strike by train drivers on Thursday evening, turning down DB’s bid for an injunction to halt the third strike by the GDL union in less than a month.
The strike began Wednesday by freight operators and widened to passenger trains Thursday morning. It is scheduled to run through Tuesday.
Spanish news agency EFE reports the union is seeking a 3.2% increase — 1.4% this year and 1.8% in 2022 — in addition to a 600 Euro coronavirus bonus, and an agreement to run for 28 months. DB has said it would pay the bonus, but wants to defer the raise to 2022 and 2023 and seeks a 36-month agreement.
There are two unions competing with each other. GDL is the smaller of the two and fighting for new members. DB and GDL are not far away from each other so normally they could reach an agreement. To me it looks more like a political thing, perhaps Mr Weselsky has other intensions, too.
Is the DB private corporation or public utility? Europe will have a shortfall trying to pay all its social welfare costs, as population is not reproducing taxpayers. Seems odd to demand payrises in a flat economy. Is DB showing a profit?
Even European unions are greedy…