German train drivers ended the country's longest freight train strike on Saturday, a union official said, but the labour dispute is set to continue next week. The GdL train drivers' union said a 42-hour nation-wide strike which began early Thursday ended at 6:00 am (0500 GMT) on Saturday.
He claimed that almost all freight trains were immobilised, with 2,600 drivers on strike. Eastern Germany was hardest hit by the strike, national rail operator Deutsche Bahn said. The protest launched by 1,800 drivers saw 700 trains stalled, it said. The strike was the fifth in two weeks and represents a new peak in the bitter three-month-long pay dispute between the union and Deutsche Bahn.
The union had previously only targeted passenger trains because a court ruling barred walkouts to disrupt freight and long-distance passenger traffic, but the ruling was overturned by a labour court last week.
The GdL has threatened to launch another sweeping country-wide strike affecting all passenger and freight trains simultaneously if Deutsche Bahn does not come up with an improved offer by Monday. Union leader Manfred Schell said a decision would be taken on Monday or Tuesday whether to harden the action.
The GdL is demanding a pay increase for its members of up to 31 percent and a separate contract from other rail workers. Deutsche Bahn has said it has no plans to improve its current offer to the drivers of a 10-percent pay rise and a one-off payment of 2,000 euros (2,940 dollars).
"We are expecting a difficult week and the extension of the strikes," Bild am Sonntag quoted a member of the company's supervisory board, Georg Brunnhuber, as saying.
He added that he would be asking at a special board meeting for a mediator acceptable to both sides to be appointed. Peter Struck, head of the parliamentary group of the Social Democrat party, which shares power with the Christian Democrats in a left-right coalition, called on Deutche Bahn to stand firm.
In one company there should be one union agreement, Struck said, while Norbert Hansen, the head of the Transnet union, which has already concluded a deal with Deutsche Banhn, warned of job losses if Gdl won its claim.
Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, warned its employees on Thursday that if the strike went on indefinitely, it would have to consider suspending production. Also Monday the government is to decide on a possible scenario for the partial privatisation of Deutsche Bahn. According to press reports the state would maintain total ownership of infrastructure, while 49 percent of passenger transport, logistics and services would be sold off.