Deutsche Bahn will appeal lower court ruling allowing train strike
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said it would appeal a Monday decision by the Frankfurt Labour court allowing a planned train drivers' strike to go ahead.
"The strike notice is far too short notice. There are also unlawful demands," said Florian Weh, managing director of the railway employers' association AGV Move, on Monday evening.
Deutsche Bahn's appeal will now be heard in the labour court in the state of Hesse on Tuesday.
The appeal came quickly after the Frankfurt court ruled that the strike was not disproportionate to the circumstances. It denied a temporary injunction against the strike.
The GDL union had already started its walkout on Monday evening in freight sector and is scheduled to expand the strike to passenger trains in the early morning hours on Tuesday.
Deutsche Bahn had sharply criticized the "far too short lead time of only 22 hours" for the strike. This was a "sheer imposition" for passengers.
The sticking point is the demand that shift workers should work 35 instead of 38 hours a week for the same pay. The railway had accepted a compromise proposal in a mediation process. This envisaged reducing working hours to 36 hours in two stages by 2028.
The GDL rejected that and the talks failed.
Meanwhile, renewed strikes by Lufthansa flight attendants are expected to lead to the cancellation of a total of 1,000 flights on Tuesday and Wednesday at Germany's Frankfurt and Munich airports, the national carrier said on Monday.
Amid the industrial action over wage negotiations set to begin on Tuesday morning, 600 flights are expected to be cancelled in Frankfurt, Germany's busiest airport, while on Wednesday 400 connections are set to be scrapped in Munich, another important travel hub.
Some 120,000 passengers will be affected, a Lufthansa spokesman said.
The Ufo union, which represents cabin crew at the carrier, had called on some 19,000 flight attendants at Lufthansa and subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine to strike at Frankfurt on Tuesday and Munich on Wednesday, with the action to last from 4 am to 11 pm (0300-2200 GMT).
Ufo is demanding 15% more pay for the approximately 18,000 cabin crew at Lufthansa and the almost 1,000 CityLine employees, with a contract term of 18 months. The union also wants a one-time inflation adjustment payment of €3,000 ($3,200) and higher bonuses.
