News from today:
"In the wage dispute for local public transport companies, the service union Verdi has called for further strikes this week. This affects “individual companies” in the six federal states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Rhineland-Palatinate, namely bus companies, local rail transport companies and rail freight companies, according to Verdi."
Posted by
Bavaria
2479 posts
in the six federal states of Bavaria [etc]
The only line in Bavaria affected will be the Kahlgrundbahn, a short branch line east of Hanau. Hopefully, the consternation about this will not be too dramatic.
Posted by
258 posts
Curious, when strikes happen, are there alternate transport arrangements in place? I'm doing Germany by train next year, and if this happens during my trip, I'm not sure what to do if all my accommodations are booked but I can't reach my destination.
Posted by
OP
Berlin
2989 posts
In case of strikes there are no replacement solutions by the company which is affected by the strike.
Companies such as Deutsche Bahn often offer flexible ticket handling, so you can use your ticket a day earlier or after strike day for example.
Of course you can choose other means of transport or companies on your own costs.
Posted by
258 posts
Companies such as Deutsche Bahn often offer flexible ticket handling, so you can use your ticket a day earlier or after strike day for example.
Thanks. Do you usually get plenty of notice there will be a strike coming up? And how long do they typically last? Must be such an inconvenience to the locals when the train network comes to a standstill.
Posted by
OP
Berlin
2989 posts
Usually the public is informed 24 to 72 hours in advance of a strike.
Mostly 3 types of strikes:
- Typically there are warning strikes (Warnstreiks) in just a few companies which last often up to 24 hours, in smaller companies it can be just a few hours.
- Next level are focus strikes (Schwerpunktstreiks) when just a few companies or regions are under strike, e. g. just one airport.
- Maximum are general strikes (Generalstreiks) which affect all relevant companies in Germany for multiple days.
In transport we saw in the last two years a 5-days train strike as largest one.
Good to know:in most German cities the S-Bahn network is operated by DB but the rest of local public transport (bus, tram, subway) is operated by a different company (e. g. BVG in Berlin). So, if local public transport is under strike the S-Bahn is often still running; vice versa.
Background: Germany has various workers' unions, often one company has not only one union as "opponent", e. g. Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn.