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OFFBEAT

Mouse stops US-bound SAS flight in Stockholm

A wayward mouse forced the grounding of a US-bound SAS flight on Tuesday, leaving 250 travellers stranded at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport as crews tried in vain to capture the rogue rodent.

Mouse stops US-bound SAS flight in Stockholm
The mouse pictured here is not the mouse mentioned in the article

Shortly before the scheduled 10.30am take off of the Chicago-bound Airbus 330, a security guard spotted the mischievous mouse scurrying across the floor of the aircraft.

“Unfortunately the mouse has not been found and caught, despite an extensive search onboard and numerous mouse traps placed inside the aircraft,” SAS press officer Malin Selander told The Local on Tuesday afternoon.

“Due to safety concerns SAS has decided to ground the aircraft until the mouse has been caught.”

Airport officials may resort to using smoke to force the mouse out of the plane, for fear that it will get into the electronics and gnaw them apart, a witness told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

However, Selander told The Local that a decision about deploying extra measures to remove the mouse from the aircraft has yet to be taken.

As the search for the meandering mouse continues, the airline is struggling to rebook the 250 passengers left stranded due to the incident.

American travellers James Roach and Marie Alswager told The Local they have been waiting more than five hours in a line that is moving “six feet an hour”.

“Spirits [among stranded travellers] are understanding,” said Roach.

As the Airbus 330 is among the largest aircraft in the SAS fleet, finding a replacement has been difficult.

“This kind of incident has not happened to SAS before, but we are now aware that similar incidents have happened to other airlines,” said Selander.

A rodent running amok was the cause of the cancellation of two Delta Airline flights between New York and London in November 2009.

Although the current situation at Arlanda remained unresolved several hours after the mouse was discovered, Selander stated the airline sees no need for revising future safety measures.

“SAS already have an extremely high level of security precautions and checks, and do not foresee the need to improve these further,” she said.

Struggling to cope with the slow-moving line for re-booking, Roach employed a bit of hyperbole in an effort to make light of his predicament.

“This is the most expensive mouse in the history of humankind,” he joked.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of 420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of 2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some 200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of 2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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