German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said Saturday that he was pessimistic a nationwide rail strike scheduled for next week could be averted. ( dpa )
The GDL union of train drivers plans to halt passenger, freight and suburban trains indefinitely from Monday in a contract dispute with the state-owned rail company Deutsche Bahn.
Tiefensee appealed to the two sides to return to the negotiating table to resolve their differences, but said he thought the chances of reaching an agreement were "virtually nil."
GDL leader Manfred Schell said his union would meet Deutsche Bahn representatives over the weekend. If the employers signed the contract worked out with the GDL in January, the strike would be called off, he said.
But Deutsche Bank insists the GDL first reach a cooperation deal with two other rail unions on collective wage bargaining before it signs the new contract, which also envisages an 11 per cent pay raise.
Talks between the three unions broke up in disagreement on Friday.
Deutsche Bahn applied for a court injunction against the strike, arguing that the GDL had no legal right to close down essential services in what was essentially a demarcation dispute among unions, not a pay claim. GDL had accepted the company's pay offer.
But the case will not be heard till the middle of the day Monday, after the strike has begun.
The rail company published timetables for skeleton services to be operated by non-union drivers and asked other railways companies to provide engines to haul essential freight to German factories.
If the strike goes ahead, it will hit about 50 per cent of regional passenger services in the west of Germany and about 90 per cent in the eastern part of the country, where the GDL has more members.
Deutsche Bahn said it hoped to run 50 per cent of its long- distance high-speed ICE trains.
A spokesman for Tiefensee's ministry said on Friday: "A strike would be immensely bad for the economy, for millions of passengers. We appeal to the common sense of both parties to come to a settlement at the last minute."
The strike would also be a major blow to commuters in Berlin, where a separate labour dispute shut down the capital's municipal mass-transit services for a fourth consecutive day Saturday.
Rolling strikes in Germany's public services affecting hospitals, airports and childcare centres were put on hold while arbitrators were called in to resolve a dispute over pay and working hours.