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FARMING

Spain tells France to control its farmers

Spanish authorities urged France on Friday to take action against the increasing number of attacks on Spanish trucks by France's striking farmers.

Spain tells France to control its farmers
Farmers use tractors to block a motorway in France. Photo: AFP
Spain's Foreign Ministry released a statement on Friday calling for France to do something about its striking farmer community. 
 
Madrid “expressed deep concern about the serious series of events” that it said have been taking place since July 21st and are ongoing, reported Le Figaro.
 
In an earlier statement issued in late July, the Spanish government had called on France to respect the “right to the free movement of people and goods”.
 
Scores if not hundreds of farmers have been ransacking trucks coming from Spain in recent weeks, often threatening to unload any meat or fruit bound for the French market.
 
They have reportedly used tractors at times to block the motorway not far from the Spanish border, causing traffic jams can stretch for kilometres. Farmers have used similar tactics at the German border.
 
Why the French back their striking farmers

(A farmer passes by the a pile of manure during a protest. Photo: AFP)
 
The farmers have also blocked cities, roads, and tourist sites across France in protest at falling food prices, which they blame on foreign competition, as well as supermarkets and distributors.
 
Farmers have dumped manure in cities, blocked access roads and motorways and hindered tourists from reaching Mont St-Michel in northern France, one of the country's most visited sites.
 
Fearful of France's powerful agricultural lobby, the government unveiled an emergency package worth €600 million in tax relief and loan guarantees, but the aid has done little to stop the unrest.
 
A combination of factors, including changing dietary habits, slowing Chinese demand and a Russian embargo on Western products over Ukraine, has pushed down prices for staples like beef, pork and milk.
 
Paris has estimated that around 10 percent of farms in France – approximately 22,000 operations — are on the brink of bankruptcy with a combined debt of €1.0 billion.
 
While Madrid may be unimpressed, the French are largely behind the striking farmers. Some 86 percent of the French public said they support the protests of the farmers, a survey on Tuesday revealed.
 

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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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