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STRIKES

Deutsche Bahn ‘megastrike’ called off after last ditch agreement

The 50-hour strike for all Deutsche Bahn trains in Germany, slated to start Sunday evening, was called off at short notice on Saturday following a labour court settlement. However travel disruption was still expected.

Deutsche Bahn train
Deutsche Bahn staff give the sign for an ICE high speed train to leave the main railway station in Stuttgart, southern Germany, on August 11, 2021. Photo by THOMAS KIENZLE / AFP

Deutsche Bahn and transport union EVG agreed to a settlement before the labour court in Frankfurt am Main, as the state-owned company announced on Saturday. 

“Due to this, we have suspended the strike for the time being,” EVG said in a statement.

The strike, set to start Sunday at 10 pm, would lead to a 50-hour long standstill of long-distance, regional and freight train traffic.

However, EVG stressed that the strike was still valid for the other 49 railway companies it represents. Only the action at Deutsche Bahn – which also oversees most S-Bahn trains – has been cancelled.

READ ALSO: German transport union announces new round of train strikes

Delays still expected

Delays and disruptions are however still expected in the next days across the rail network, Deutsche Bahn said, as it needed to work through the mass changes that had arisen because of the planned strike.

“DB is facing the major challenge of rescheduling around 50,000 train journeys and the associated shift and deployment schedules,” it said in a statement.

DB intends to provide a new timetable starting at noon on Saturday, which train travellers can also check online. 

Urgent overturn

On Friday evening, Deutsche Bahn filed an “emergency application” (Eilantrag) with the Frankfurt labour court to prevent the strike from going ahead. 

It said the planned walkout was “disproportionate” and would harm customers and “uninvolved third parties”.

EVG said the rail operator “told the court unequivocally that it would fulfil our minimum wage requests”.

“On the advice of the court, the employer and us reached a settlement,” added the EVG spokesman.

EVG represents 230,000 workers across some 50 transport companies, including Deutsche Bahn.

“Deutsche Bahn’s trip to the labour court was worth it for everyone,” said DB personnel director Martin Seiler, according to the statement. 

With the settlement, both sides also agreed, according to DB, to “now negotiate swiftly and constructively with the aim of reaching an agreement soon”.

Deutsche Bahn bosses previously offered a ten percent raise for employees on lower to middle incomes and an eight percent raise for those on higher incomes, as well as a €2,850 one-off payment to help with rising living costs.

Deutsche Bahn called the offer fair, and had criticised the upcoming actions.

“Announcing strikes in response to this is completely excessive and totally disproportionate. There is ten percent on the table, the highest offer in DB history,” said Seiler last week.

With reporting by AFP

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TRAVEL NEWS

What’s the environmental fee Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss airlines will charge you?

German airline group Lufthansa, which includes national flyers Austrian and Swiss airlines have said it will add an environmental charge to passenger fares in Europe to cover the cost of increasing EU climate regulations.

What's the environmental fee Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss airlines will charge you?

How much will the cost be?

The extra cost will be added to all flights sold and operated by the group departing from EU countries as well as Britain, Norway and Switzerland, the group said in a statement.

It will apply to flights from January next year and, depending on the route and fare, will vary from €1 to €72.

What’s the justification for the cost?

“The airline group will not be able to bear the successively increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the coming years on its own,” said Lufthansa.

The group — whose airlines include Lufthansa, Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines — said it is facing extra costs from EU regulations related to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The aviation sector is among the toughest to decarbonise and SAF — a biofuel that produces lower carbon emissions than traditional jet fuel  — is seen as a crucial ingredient to hitting emissions targets but is currently more expensive to produce.

In March, Airlines for Europe, which represents the continent’s largest airline groups including Lufthansa, complained that production of the fuel in Europe is minimal and lags far behind projects launched in the United States.

Lufthansa said it also faces extra costs from changes to the EU’s emissions trading system, and other regulatory measures.

The group aims to halve its net carbon emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, and to go carbon neutral by 2050.

What is the EU legislation?

The EU legislation requires airlines to gradually increase use of the fuel on routes departing EU airports.

Carriers will need to include two percent of SAF in their fuel mix from next year, rising to six percent in 2030 and then soaring to 70 percent from 2050.

What’s the sate of Lufthansa group’s finances?

After having to be bailed out by the German government during the coronavirus pandemic, Lufthansa racked up healthy profits in 2022 and 2023 as travel demand roared back.

But it was hard hit by a series of strikes at the start of this year, reporting a hefty first-quarter loss.

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