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STRIKES

UPDATE: German rail union agrees to postpone strikes with third-party mediation

Strikes expected to be held next week have been narrowly averted as German rail union EVG agreed to enter an arbitration process with Deutsche Bahn - but a members' vote on unlimited strikes will continue.

EVG rail union protest Bremen
Members of the EVG rail union hold a demonstration in Bremen. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Sina Schuldt

“After the failure of the negotiations, we declared that we would not oppose such a procedure – and now we are keeping our word,” EVG chief negotiation Kristian Loroch announced on Thursday.

Nevertheless, he said, the union will forge ahead with a ballot to decide whether to hold prolonged rail strikes in the coming weeks.

“Our voting members at Deutsche Bahn AG will therefore vote on the outcome of the conciliation and thus also on the possibility of indefinite industrial action,” EVG said in a statement. “If the result is not convincing, indefinite strikes will be the consequence.”

According to the EVG, however, it does not intend to carry out any further warning strikes until the start of the conciliation process.

READ ALSO: German rail union to hold ballot on unlimited strikes

The arbitration process is the latest twist in an embittered pay dispute between the rail operator and Germany’s largest rail union.

On Wednesday, Deutsche Bahn had launched its bid for external mediation in order to avoid strikes  that were expected to be held on Tuesday. 

A day earlier, Bild had reported that a decision on future warning strikes would be taken by Thursday afternoon.

Failed talks

Last week, EVG had declared that months of pay negotiations between the two sides had failed and had announced plans to ballot its 110,000 members on the possibility of prolonged strikes.

The strike ballot is likely to take four to five weeks, it said. But officials stressed that warning strikes were still possible during this time. 

Nevertheless, in recent media interviews the union had expressed its willingness for arbitration in the collective bargaining dispute.

“If the employer approaches us with a demand for arbitration, we can decide quickly,” EVG leader Martin Burkert told Bayerischer Rundfunk last week.

Such a mediation led to a breakthrough in public sector pay negotiations between services union Verdi and the local authorities back in May. 

READ ALSO: German public sector workers clinch 5.5 percent pay rise

EVG has been calling for a 12 percent pay rise or at least €650 extra per month for its members over 12 months – at which time pay negotiations would be reopened.

EVG chair Martin Burkert

EVG chair Martin Burkert speaks at a press conference on Thursday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jörg Carstensen

This has been a key issue for the union after the union signed a long contract back in 2020 that prevented them from responding the steep rise in the cost of living.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bahn has countered with a staggered 12 percent increase for lower earners, 10 percent for middle earners and eight percent for top earners – but with a duration of 27 months. 

Current discussions go far beyond the issue of pay, however, with working conditions and working hours also up for negotiation.

Shortly before EVG branded the talks “a failure”, the two sides had drawn up a 140-page document that was set to be used as a future collective agreement. 

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WILDLIFE

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

First flooding, and now a plague of mosquitos: hoards of the annoying bloodsuckers are spreading on Lake Constance. Here's what to expect if you are visiting the region.

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

After severe floods in southern Germany, conditions are ripe for mosquito populations to explode, according to an expert in the region. 

Rainer Bretthauer, environmental and climate protection officer at the city of Radolfzell on Lake Constance, told DPA that the popular holiday location is already seeing signs of a mosquito plague.

 Bretthauer said that the floods have offered perfect conditions for egg laying, resulting in masses of mosquito offspring.

People living around the area or visiting should be prepared, Bretthauer said. He suggested, for instance, wearing loose-fitting and long clothing.

Timing also plays a role when you’re outside. “They tend to bite during twilight hours when the temperature is higher than 18C,” he said. 

Mosquitos ‘not a bad thing for wildlife’

While growing mosquito hoards may ruin peoples’ camping trips and planned lake vacations, for local wildlife, the mosquitos are a good thing, according to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu).

“All the insects that are now developing are a very important food source for many fish species and also for birds,” said Eberhard Klein from Nabu in Constance.

Around 50 species of mosquitoes are known in Germany. Some of them are counted among the so-called floodwater mosquitoes, which increasingly hatch after flooding.

According to experts, these mosquitos are particularly zealous blood hunters, as they have to reproduce quickly before the favourable conditions disappear again.

Floodwater mosquitoes like to lay their eggs on moist soil, often in riparian zones and floodplains. There they can survive in the soil for several years.

When these zones flood and the temperature is favourable, the eggs develop and hatch mosquitos. Therefore large-scale flooding, as seen recently in Southern Germany, can lead to mass hatching.

Mosquito borne illness is spreading to Europe as temperatures warm

Warming temperatures brought by human-caused climate change have allowed mosquito populations to extend further northward in Europe, including disease-carrying species that were previously limited to regions closer to the equator.

For example, the Asian tiger mosquito is not native to Europe but has already been observed in much of southern and central Europe, including Germany.

Tiger mosquitos are particularly concerning because they are known to spread diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. Mass outbreaks of these infections have been rising globally. Last year local Dengue outbreaks were recorded in France, Italy and Spain.

With reporting by DPA

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