Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to be affected in the next few days by the strike action of German Railways and Lufthansa workers.

The German Train Drivers’ Association (GDL) has called its members on strike from 02:00 on Thursday until 13:00 on Friday. In freight trains, the strike already started yesterday (Wednesday) at 18:00 and will end on Friday at 05:00.

Deutsche Bahn (DB) has announced an emergency timetable with longer trains, but around 80% of regular routes are expected to be cancelled.

Workers and employers had agreed to a “truce” until the beginning of March, after the new failure of collective negotiations, but the train drivers’ union again rejected the company’s proposals and again announced strike action. “There will be a strike wave,” said GDL chief Klaus Wezelski, warning that strikes should not be ruled out at any time from now on, even without the 48-hour warning that has been in place until now. “This means that the railway is no longer a reliable means of transport,” he said.

The central demand of the train workers is the reduction from 2028 of working hours from 38 to 35 hours per week with full remuneration. However, Mr. Vezelski has received intense criticism in the last few hours, as he allegedly distorted the content of a mediation proposal which had been accepted by the German Railways. While the proposal was to reduce working hours in two stages to 36 hours, the union leader said the hours were 37, while an extra half hour would be optional and entail a pay cut. Klaus Wezelski admitted to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung that he made a “wrong reasoning” but clarified that he will not change his stance.

In an interview on the first channel of German public television ARD, Transport Minister Volker Vissing (FDP) called the conflict between workers and employers “incomprehensible” and said that their union “is not interested in a solution” and “instead of solutions, it is looking for reasons for disagreement and new strikes”.

“There’s no way millions of passengers can’t get to work because of this wrong thinking,” the Federal Association of Local Railroads announced earlier tonight, adding that “it’s unthinkable that some would insist on the maximum requirements, not move an inch and abandon the negotiations”.

From 04:00 in the morning, the strike announced by the trade union organization Ver.di for the Lufthansa ground staff begins. Passengers on Europe’s largest airline should be prepared for cancellations and flight delays until at least 07:00 on Saturday. However, the full normalization of the flight schedule is expected much later. According to Lufthansa, it is estimated that the employee actions will affect more than 200,000 passengers. Ver.di, which represents around 25,000 Lufthansa workers on the ground, is demanding at least a €500 monthly pay rise and a one-off “inflation compensation” and has so far rejected all of the company’s counter-proposals, citing among other things the record profits it announced Club.

In the meantime, 96% of the workers in the aircraft cabin decided in favor of a new strike today, with their union (UFO) reserving to announce the dates of mobilizations in the near future. The UFO, which represents 18,000 Lufthansa cabin crew and almost 1,000 Cityline workers, is demanding a 15% increase in monthly wages, an 18-month contract and an “inflation allowance” of €3,000.

Frankfurt and Hamburg airports have already announced the cancellation of all their departures during the strike.