ÖBB warning strike: 100,000 passengers were affected

Regional trains as well as ÖBB Railjets and Westbahn fittings were temporarily parked on the platforms. The fast-track railways in Vienna have also been affected – at Warnstalk, the central station has become lame. Freight traffic is also stopped. By announcements and on monitors in the stations informed the ÖBB about failures.

At the main train station in Vienna, tourists were waiting for the attacker. Due to the strike warning at lunch time, many students were also en route. Especially in Lower Austria, many children and young people had to wait on the docks – to know more about this in After warning strike: the first trains roll again.

The union warns: "The next step is the strike"

The warning strike was triggered by the fact that the union rejected the offer of the employers' collective agreement. "The next step after the strike is the strike strike, but we are not that far yet," said Roman Hebenstreit, director of the Vida, after the demolition of the ninth round of negotiations, which will take place. is unfolded in parallel with the warning strike. Trade unionists and employers met on Monday at 10 am, two hours before the start of the strike, and negotiations were scheduled at short notice at the headquarters of the Vienna Economic Chamber. Chief Trade Negotiator Thomas Scheiber hoped to avoid a strike.

But things went differently: Hebenstreit and his team left the room without comment, three quarters of an hour after the start of negotiations. The "substantially improved" offer of 3.37% on the employers side calls the union "a long list of demands". The trade unionists did not return until the strike started at 12 o'clock. So, the ÖBB has stopped all rail traffic in the country. And Scheiber has had no choice but to explain to the press: "I must say with regret that the strike is unstoppable."

Delays are possible until the evening

The rival of the ÖBB, Westbahn, did not participate in the warning strike, but was nevertheless affected. The website only indicated that the ÖBB traffic control center had ceased operations. After the end of the warning strike, the federal railways began to gradually increase the train service. Long-distance trains first continued on their route, followed by local traffic. The ÖBB has not ruled out that there are still delays and failures late in the evening.

While the ÖBB pleaded for the conclusion of collective bargaining and asked the union not to conduct negotiations on the backs of pbadengers and employees, several other unions declared their solidarity with the sister organization responsible for transport and tourism, Vida.

No date for the next round of negotiations

The way negotiations are going to continue is open. Both parties wish to consult internally in the coming days. There is no date for a tenth round of negotiations. Scheiber announced that he would again explore "the trading margin we have". Hebenstreit had broken employers' offer: "Speak ahead of time on a substantially improved offer that makes fun of any description and is a joke."

The union criticized the intimidation attempts during the run-up to the strike and saw it as a consequence of the change of government. "This has become really possible in this country," Hebenstreit said in a press release issued by Vida. The SPÖ, traditionally close to the union, had left the government last year. Since then, the ÖVP and the FPÖ have ruled. Critics accuse the union and Hebenstreit of running opposition policies for the SPÖ.

Hofer: Hebenstreit plays rugby at a football match

Transport Minister Norbert Hofer (FPÖ) said about Hebenstreit: "I have the impression that he plays rugby in a football match and that it does not go well together. . " According to him, the offer is very good, for officials higher than the KV public service and for others "near the conclusion of the Steelworkers". The ÖBB alone would cost 80 million euros at this level. "The only minister who has a reason to go on strike is the finance minister," said Hofer.

ÖBB chairman, Andreas Matthä, did not expressly express himself Monday at a press conference to indicate whether, in his opinion, the chairman of the board of the company and the ÖBB union, Hebenstreit, was using the strike to profile itself. "Every pbadenger can have his own picture of the situation today," said the head of the railways and asked if the union was continuing the opposition strike: "If you look at it," he said. comprehensive history of these negotiations, you can see what it is all about. "

40,000 employees affected by the negotiations

The Railway Association of the Chamber of Commerce published in the afternoon its offer previously submitted to the union's offer. It provides for an average annual increase of 3.37% on all salary levels. Employees see this as a much smaller increase than slightly higher than the inflation rate, partly because of a gap of several months since the expiry of the old CT in June. Although the union does not specify its own specific requirements, employers say that the sum of all claims would result in an additional charge of 10%.

Overall, the negotiations involve approximately 40,000 employees in more than 60 companies. "Unfortunately, we could not avoid the warning strike because the union should have already confirmed the scenario," said Scheiber, confident that new negotiations will take place. Following a meeting of the committee on Wednesday, he wants to invite the union to another round of bargaining – and ban the risk of a strike.

The last big railway strike took place in 2003. When the black and blue government of the time wanted to legislate to bring down the federal railroads and intervene in the service of the railwaymen, the former boss Railways union Wilhelm Haberzettl had called for a "perpetual" strike in November. On the third day of the strike, the government partially surrendered and agreed to negotiate.