In Germany, Most Trains Have Been Canceled Due to a Railroad Workers Strike

A massive strike by the GDL trade union, which covers both passenger and freight carriers, hit Germany. Currently, more than 80% of all trains have been canceled.

This information is reported by Spiegel.

The strike started at 6:00 pm on Thursday, December 7, and will continue until 10:00 pm on Friday. Initially, railway workers stopped freight transport, and four hours later - passenger transport.

As of now, the German railway can only release every fifth train from the routes of the so-called "long-haul." At the same time, the situation with regional trains is more complicated, especially in the south of the country, where they are still recovering from last Friday's snowstorm, which complicated transportation.

Transport operators emphasize that due to the strike, the queue for sending goods by trains in Bavaria may double. As of 6:00 pm yesterday evening, 170 freight trains were already expected to depart, delayed due to the bad weather.

The main demands of the GDL trade union are to reduce the working week from 38 to 35 hours while maintaining the current level of pay. Previously, the railway company completely rejected negotiations on reducing the duration of the working week, citing a lack of personnel.

At the same time, according to the head of the German locomotive drivers' trade union, Claus Weselsky, reducing the working hours would contribute to raising the value of the profession and thus attract many more new talents.

"The reason is that the shift system, as it is, is unattractive. Today, people value the quality of life, the famous balance between work and personal life, social participation, and family life," emphasized Weselsky.

At the same time, the head of the German trade union stated that after today's strike, they will take a "Christmas" break until January 7, but later they will return with longer and much more intensive strikes.

This week the Lithuanian trade union of education workers, LŠDPS, announced the resumption of strikes due to low funding for the industry.

Educators demand an increase in wages from the Lithuanian government. According to protesters, a compromise could be an increase of at least 15%, while the government insists that a 10% increase is the most realistic.

Earlier, The Gaze also reported that employees of the well-known American newspaper, Washington Post, announced a 24-hour strike.