- German train drivers' union wants to paralyse rail traffic for three days
- Implementation of the GDL demands would mean a 58 per cent increase in fares
- Information on "school trains", alternative bus and tram lines at www.city-bahn.de
Chemnitz - The City-Bahn Chemnitz will be on strike from Wednesday by the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL). From 2 a.m. until Friday evening, there will be no trains travelling over a wide area, the GDL announced on its website. The main issue is the union's attempt to enforce the 35-hour week in the railway industry.
City-Bahn Managing Director Friedbert Straube: "The demand for a 35-hour week is dishonest - with the staff shortage, any reduction in working hours is immediately eaten up by overtime." Training even more, as the union is demanding, is not an option. This has been made clear to them in recent weeks.
City-Bahn has been training at full speed for years: 80 new train drivers in six years and currently even a 20 per cent training rate. Friedbert Straube: "We're not short of applicants. We can't train more people at the same time, otherwise the quality of the training and then the safety of railway operations will suffer. But we will continue to train 'to the limit' in the future - to really reduce the burden of shift work." New rota principles were agreed with the Works Council in 2023 and implemented for 2024. "More pleasant services come at the expense of efficiency - we also need new colleagues for this. That's why we provide training, which really benefits the city railway workers."
However, if the company were to introduce the 35-hour week now, these efforts would be thwarted. Straube: "I don't want to build a monument to myself, and I'm not about to retire - I want to create sensible working conditions and still take responsibility for them in five years' time."
And the trade union demands also cost money: "All fares would have to rise by 58 per cent if the GDL demands were implemented in this way - that's not possible, then no one would travel with us anymore"says Straube. City-Bahn has offered a 10 to 14 per cent wage increase, which is affordable. Straube: "A company that is largely financed by taxpayers has to provide good working conditions on the one hand, but also keep a sense of proportion and balance on the other. Therefore: 10 to 14 per cent more is the offer - that still stands." This is in line with agreements in other sectors.
The City-Bahn is trying to run high-demand trains in the morning hours of the respective strike days. Friedbert Straube: "The GDL wants to leave pupils standing on the platform in sub-zero temperatures, that's irresponsible. We are doing everything we can to run the most important school trains early."
Whether and which trains are running will be announced on our website on Tuesday www.city-bahn.de.
Passengers will also find a list of alternative bus and train connections. These means of transport are not affected by the strike.
Note: If you want to know whether a bus line or tram is an alternative to the train, you can also use www.city-bahn.de/ click on . In the journey planner, deselect the following options under search options: Train, Light rail, S-Bahn. Then enter the start and destination. These results are limited to bus and tram connections.
