Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – Train drivers in the southwest could face train cancellations due to warning strikes this week – because of a dispute between the German train drivers’ union (GDL) and the Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-GmbH (SWEG). A spokesman for the union could not say exactly when strikes could begin on Monday. However, the passengers will be “informed in good time”.
On Sunday, union boss Claus Weselsky threatened that strikes would be “pre-programmed” from Monday if the state-owned company was not willing to negotiate with the GDL about a uniform wage agreement for all its employees. A SWEG spokeswoman denied that on Monday, saying passengers could face strikes in the coming days if GDL maintained its “blockade stance”.
So far, the company has categorically ruled out negotiating a uniform collective agreement for all of the group’s approximately 1,800 employees. After all, the negotiations are only about a new set of rules for the subsidiary SWEG Bahn Stuttgart GmbH. This is the name of the former railway company Abellio Rail Baden-Württemberg, which SWEG took over for two years at the beginning of the year because of its financial problems.
Strikes at SWEG could affect passengers in several parts of the country. The company operates regional trains in the Ortenau and Breisgau regions, as well as the former Abellio regional lines between Stuttgart, Bruchsal and Heidelberg and between Tübingen and Heilbronn via the SWEG Bahn Stuttgart.
