On Wednesday, the European Championship begins in Germany. However, the morning meant that a major train strike was started – which will affect millions of road users according to Reuters.
After a three-week “truce”, the protests against German train drivers wages and working hours flared up again on Wednesday. This means that Deutsche Bahn has been forced to offer a greatly reduced timetable, where, for example, one in five long-distance high-speed trains was in operation.
This also correlates with the big opening day of the European Handball Championship, which kicks off in Düsseldorf in the evening.
Uncertain proceeding
A widespread strike could of course affect supporters who plan to follow their countries at the various venues during the tournament. However, the strike is planned to span between Wednesday and Friday, what happens after that is uncertain.
– If we don’t get anything on Friday, we will take a break and then enter the next round of industrial action, said the GDL union president Claus Weselsky, according to the Reuters news agency.
According to Reuters, the goal of the strike is that GDL strives to reduce the train drivers’ working weeks from 38 to 35 hours, with the same pay. However, GDL and Deutsche Bahn have not managed to reach an agreement at the moment.
LINK: Reuters