German Train Drivers Stage 2-Hour Strike

By GEIR MOULSON

BERLIN – Train drivers staged a two-hour strike Thursday against the Berlin and Hamburg commuter networks, then called off further walkouts after mediators were appointed to seek an end to the bitter pay dispute.

The GDL union, representing the drivers, will refrain from further stoppages amid hopes for mediated talks next week with the Deutsche Bahn rail operator, spokesman Maik Brandenburg said.

Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee announced the appointment of two mediators.

“Both are politically experienced and have in the past led successful mediation efforts,” Tiefensee said. “This step should lead quickly to another, and the beginning of mediation.”

The union launched the walkout at 8 a.m., targeting local trains in Berlin and Hamburg. Drivers took their trains to the nearest station before walking off the job. Court rulings had barred more wide-ranging work stoppages.

GDL is seeking a pay increase of up to 31 percent for its members, and has rejected a 4.5 percent raise that railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG agreed to last month in talks with two other unions representing rail employees. The union wants a separate agreement for drivers, a demand the railway rejects.

GDL says the drivers currently earn about $2,050 per month after taxes, an amount it calls inadequate. It and other unions also have pointed to healthy earnings at Deutsche Bahn, which is preparing for partial privatization next year.

The union announced the strike against commuter trains late Wednesday, after a labor court issued an injunction halting its original plan to target freight trains for a four-hour stoppage on Thursday. GDL has appealed that ruling.

Deutsche Bahn also obtained court rulings preventing strikes on long-distance passenger trains and on local and regional trains outside Berlin and Hamburg.

“This is the measure that is available to us,” the union’s deputy chairman, Claus Weselsky, said of Thursday’s strike, speaking on ARD television.

“We want to send a clear signal,” he added. “The drivers’ patience is at an end.”

Deutsche Bahn managed to run only occasional commuter trains with non-GDL drivers during the two-hour stoppage. But the fallout was limited, with many commuters on vacation and others either traveling before the strike started or using alternative train and subway lines.