More rail strikes could have a devastating impact on the German economy, Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee warned amid a showdown over wages between operator Deutsche Bahn and its drivers.
"A strike can have disastrous consequences for the national economy and the upswing," Tiefensee told German weekly magazine Der Spiegel in an article provided to news agencies ahead of publication on Sunday. His comments came one day before a moratorium on striking by the 34,000-strong GDL drivers union expires.
Deutsche Bahn has been locked in a months-long wage dispute with the drivers, who say they are underpaid compared to their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. After a series of disruptive strikes, the two sides agreed last month to hold new talks, but have been unable to reach a compromise.
On Friday, GDL head Manfred Schell said new strikes looked "unavoidable". He has called a news conference for Monday in Frankfurt to announce the union's next steps. Deutsche Bahn personnel chief Margret Suckale signalled in an interview with German daily Die Welt on Saturday that the company was prepared to face down the drivers.
"We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed with strikes," she said. "If we have to continue with this labour battle, then so be it." The dispute has come at an awkward time for the company, which is on track to be partly privatised by 2009.
Resistance to Tiefensee's privatisation plan from within his own Social Democratic (SPD) party has begun to put the timetable in doubt. Deutsche Bahn, a transport and logistics giant with interests spread across Europe and into Asia and the Middle East, is Germany's largest employer.
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