Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Train passengers on certain routes in the south-west can take a deep breath from Thursday. The train drivers' union GDL wants to end its eight-day strike at the railway company SWEG in the late morning, as it announced on Wednesday. "With this breathing space we are giving the SWEG management the opportunity to admit the instability of their position," said GDL chairman Claus Weselsky, according to the announcement.
The GDL had called the employees of the Südwestdeutsches Landesverkehrs GmbH (SWEG) and its subsidiary SWEG Bahn Stuttgart GmbH (SBS) to strike from November 2nd and initially did not give an end date. According to the company, there had recently been major strike effects, especially at SBS in the Stuttgarter Netz/Neckar valley. The GDL speaks of numerous train cancellations and delays in the entire route network of the state railway. It was the fifth work stoppage in the ongoing wage conflict.
The conflict is about the fact that the union of German locomotive drivers, according to their own statements, would like to negotiate a collective agreement for the more than 500 railway workers not only for SBS, but for the entire SWEG group. The group has a total of 1800 employees. SWEG rejects this and does not want to take over the former Abellio Rail Baden-Württemberg - today SBS - permanently. The Abellio daughter got into financial difficulties at the end of 2021. The company then took over the state-owned SWEG for an initial period of two years.
