“A blow to the economy”: German train drivers went on a long strike

The strike will last six days

German Transport Minister Volker Wissing called the six-day driver’s strike “devastating” and could disrupt supply chains already disrupted by attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on ships passing through the Red Sea.

The lengthy strike “is a blow to the German economy,” said Deutsche Bahn spokeswoman Anja Brucker, noting that freight services handled by the rail service include “supplies for power plants, oil refineries.

“DB Cargo will do everything to secure the supply chain, but it is clear that this will not solve the problem,” she added.

The strike, announced by the German machinists’ union, will last until Monday, January 29.

The first protests in 2024 were held by trade unions from 10 to 12 January. The current strike is the second in 2024 and the fourth since November 2023. It will cause a lot of inconvenience to passengers and has already forced thousands of citizens to rebook tickets or cancel their plans. In addition, the railway strike would entail enormous costs for the state and industry at a time when the German economy is in decline.

Industry experts have warned that the impact on the economy will be very negative. Michael Grumling of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research explained that train stoppages across the country could cost the economy up to €100 million a day and warned that the impact “may not increase linearly”.

Given shipping disruptions due to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, as well as problems with road transport, “rough estimates suggest that in extreme cases this strike could cost up to a billion euros,” he calculated.

The head of the German Ministry of Transport, Wissing, criticized the German machinists’ union for refusing to negotiate during the strike.

“I think such actions are unreasonable and disrespectful towards passengers. Trains are blocked while no one is sitting at the negotiating table,” said Transport Minister Volker Wissing.

But the union said it had rejected Deutsche Bahn’s “third and supposedly improved offer because management showed no signs of being willing to reach an agreement.”

The German train drivers’ union is seeking a pay rise to offset inflation and a reduction in the working week from 38 to 35 hours without losing money, arguing it is necessary to make the job of train driver “more attractive” to young people.

However, Deutsche Bahn criticized the latest round of negotiations, saying it had offered a pay rise of up to 13 percent and a one-off “inflation bonus”, as well as the possibility of cutting the working week by one hour from 2026.

Recall that in 2023, Deutsche Bahn already entered into a confrontation with the railway union EVG, which represents about 180 thousand railway workers who are not drivers, reaching an agreement at the end of August.

The current strike has broken the previous record of an action in May 2015, also organized by the German machinists’ union, which lasted about five days.