OREANDA-NEWS. Labour Court in Frankfurt am Main by the end of the day, on Thursday, September 2, will make a decision on an urgent claim of the railway concern Deutsche Bahn (DB), which demands an immediate end to the strike organized by the German Driver's Union GDL. The hearing on the issue of securing the claim is scheduled for 18:00 local time (19:00 Moscow time), the representative of the court said. As indicated in Deutsche Bahn, the application for a temporary ban on the strike was filed on September 2. DB indicated that they were obliged to do this «in the interests of their customers».

Martin Seiler, senior human resources manager at Deutsche Bahn, expressed the opinion that the opportunity to organize strikes is «a great blessing». However, according to him, strikes «are permissible only if they are carried out within the framework of the current legislation». «In our opinion, this does not apply to GDL strikes», Seiler stressed.

DB also noted that they offered the union a possible solution to the problem. However, GDL «was clearly more focused on legal and political issues than on finding — at the negotiating table — solutions to ensure good working conditions», according to the railway concern.

The chairman of the trade union, Klaus Weselsky, in turn, commenting on the proposal of Deutsche Bahn, made the statement that although DB indicated the possibility of specific payments in connection with the pandemic, it will not be implemented this year. In addition, according to Weselsky, there is no increase in wages until the end of the year.

Another strike of passenger train drivers began in Germany on the night of September 2. It has already become the third since the beginning of August and will last more than five days. In the field of freight transportation, the strike began in the middle of the day on September 1. Deutsche Bahn has put forward new proposals to the union in the hope of preventing a strike: a gradual increase in wages by 3.2%, as well as a one-time payment of «crown bonuses» in the amount of up to 600 euros. However, the union rejected these conditions.