The train drivers' union GDL wants to intensify its industrial action at the railways and possibly also go on strike at the weekend.
"We will expand the strikes," said GDL boss Claus Weselsky of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" according to the preliminary report on Tuesday.
The Deutsche Bahn can only prevent this with a quick new tariff offer.
However, the head of the train drivers' union does not assume this.
"I don't expect the managers to lie on their backs and say: 'We have always wanted to fulfill Weselsky's wishes.'"
According to the report, the GDL boss also makes it clear that a new strike will last longer than the 48-hour strike in passenger traffic last week.
“The longer we strike, the stronger the public reaction.
If the management thinks they can withstand the frustration of the citizens longer than the employees, then I tell them: They miscalculate, ”warned Weselsky.
The next labor dispute could also hit vacationers harder.
While the GDL had spared weekend travel during the first strike last week and let the trains run again, the GDL boss no longer wants to guarantee that.
“I cannot rule out strikes at the weekend,” said Weselsky.
"The longer the strikes, the more difficult it becomes to avoid the weekends."
“Very short time” until the next strike
The train drivers' representatives renewed their threat of a labor dispute at a rally in front of the railway tower in Berlin on Tuesday.
“You know that we have to use this last resort again if the management, supported by the owner, continues to behave like this,” GDL chairman Claus Weselsky called out to the 75 union members who had been registered with the police.
However, he failed to make an appointment.
A solution to the wage conflict could be within one's grasp, said a
rail spokeswoman.
“We therefore call on the GDL
to refrain
from further
holiday strikes and finally to negotiate seriously.” It is
not the time for permanent confrontation at the expense of the customers.
The union announced last week that after the rally it would be “only a very short time” until the next strike.
However, Weselsky had assured that passengers would be able to prepare for a strike longer than the first time.
This last week only took 15 hours from the announcement to the two-day strike.
The GDL boss had also indicated that the next strike could last longer and include a weekend.
Weselsky rejects arbitration
The GDL will not agree to a collective agreement like at the airports, said Weselsky with reference to the present offer of the railway. The offer made by Deutsche Bahn “cannot be made with us,” he said. If the group sticks to this stance, "then we will see to it that the light goes on and its pockets". The completion of the public service is also a narrow result in view of the increased inflation.