World News | Thousands of Flights and Trains Will Be Cancelled Again This Week in Germany with New Strikes
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Thousands of flights and trains are expected to be cancelled again this week in Germany after two unions on Monday called for more strikes over wages and working conditions.
Berlin, Mar 4 (AP) Thousands of flights and trains are expected to be cancelled again this week in Germany after two unions on Monday called for more strikes over wages and working conditions.
Negotiations continue for ground staff of German airline Lufthansa and German rail operator's Deutsche Bahn train drivers. German train drivers' union GDL and Ver.di called for the strikes on Thursday and Friday.
Around 200,000 air passengers will be affected by the two-day strike, according to an initial estimate by the Lufthansa Group, meaning that around 1,000 flights per day will be cancelled as during previous strikes, German news agency dpa reported.
The strike on long-distance and regional train services begins at 2.00 a.m. (0100GMT) on Thursday and will affect millions of travellers.
According to GDL, the strike is set to last until 1 p.m. on Friday. In freight transport, the strike will begin on Wednesday at 6 p.m. (1700GMT) and is scheduled to last until 5 a.m. Friday.
In addition to pay raises, GDL has been calling for working hours to be reduced from 38 to 35 per week without a pay cut, which Deutsche Bahn has refused.
The Ver.di union seeks a 12.5 per cent pay raise, or at least 500 euros (USD 542) more per month, in negotiations for nearly 25,000 Lufthansa ground workers including check-in, aircraft handling, maintenance and freight staff.
Coinciding contract negotiations have resulted in several recent walkouts in the rail, air and local transport sectors in Germany. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)