BERLIN, May 13. (DPA/EP) –
The 50-hour strike announced by the German railway union EVG, one of the longest called in recent German history, has been suspended shortly before it began after reaching an agreement with the state company Deutsche Bahn to resume wage negotiations .
The compromise was reached before the Frankfurt Labor Court, as announced on Saturday by Deutsche Bahn and confirmed shortly after by the union: “We have suspended the strike for the time being.”
The railway company had filed an urgent appeal before the court on Friday to avoid the strike, which was scheduled to start at 10:00 p.m. next Sunday.
Deutsche Bahn had already planned the complete interruption of long-distance services during this period and the cancellation of almost all trains on regional services.
The company warned that even with the lifting of the force measure there will be restrictions on rail services in the coming days. “DB is facing the great challenge of rescheduling around 50,000 train journeys and the associated shift and deployment times,” Deutsche Bahn reported.
The union, for its part, stressed that the call for a strike is still valid for some other railway companies and that the strike has only been canceled at Deutsche Bahn, in what is the longest railway stoppage called since the refounding of the union organization. in 1994.
The strike had been called by the EVG railway and transport union, which had been negotiating since the end of February with 50 railway companies new collective agreements for 230,000 employees, 180,000 of whom work for Deutsche Bahn. Negotiations with most companies are at a standstill.
Had it materialized, it would have been the third strike in the sector this year and, according to trade union expert Alexander Gallas, the longest by railway workers in the last 30 years.
