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German Railway Drivers Strike, Stopping Local Trains (Update2)

By Chad Thomas

Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- German train drivers brought local rail services across the country to a standstill this morning to press their demand for higher wages and better working conditions.

The walkout, which began at 2 a.m. and is scheduled to last until 11 a.m., has ``considerably restricted'' regional and commuter train traffic, especially in the eastern part of the country and the cities of Frankfurt and Munich, Deutsche Bahn AG, Germany's state-owned railway, said in a statement.

``Regional traffic has been very heavily impacted because of this strike,'' management board member Karl-Friedrich Rausch said at a press conference in Berlin. He urged the union to return to negotiations today.

The GDL train drivers' union rejected the railway's most recent contract offer, which includes a one-time payment of 2,000 euros ($2,835) and a 10 percent raise, as ``insufficient.'' Deutsche Bahn, which operates Europe's largest track network, has rejected the union's demands for a wage increase of as much as 31 percent.

Train drivers have held short walkouts during the past three months to press demands for higher pay. Deutsche Bahn wants the railway's 12,000 train drivers to work two additional hours per week. A ruling by a court in Chemnitz, Germany, on Oct. 5 prevents train drivers from striking on long-distance and freight routes. (...)

Full:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=auZko.AwcO_k