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Crisis hits royals as staff call strike

Workers at Spain's royal palaces are downing tools during the busy Easter period in what will be the first ever strike by crown employees.

Crisis hits royals as staff call strike
Spain's Crown Prince Felipe, King Juan Carlos, Princess Letizia and Queen Sofia attend the national day military parade in Madrid on October 12th 2012. Photo: Dominique Faget/AFP

"They've changed working conditions for staff employed by the royal family, including bringing in shift work," Carlos Zarco of the union CSIF told The Local.

Explaining why palace staff were going on strike, the union representative said: "In the past, staff attached to the Royal Palace worked eight hours a day, but from now on people could be working  from six in the morning to six in the evening."

"Also, employees will only get half an hour for lunch, and the room they have to eat in doesn't even have air conditioning."

The changes in work conditions were introduced in early January and include unpaid overtime and salary cuts of 15 percent, Zarco said.

The strike by royal staff is planned for March 28th and 29th with 500 employees contracted to the Presidential Ministry taking part.

Staff walking out include gardeners, drivers, waiters, doormen, gatekeepers and museum guides, among others.

Zarco said that the strike was being held in Easter week because that was one of the busiest times of year at museums including the Royal Palace in Madrid and El Escorial.

With entry prices at these museums ranging from €10 to €17, and with 100,000 visitors expected on those days, El Pais reported that the strike could have a big economic impact.  

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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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