Deutsche Bahn loses lawsuit to halt German rail strike

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany’s national rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, on Monday lost a lawsuit against train drivers’ union GDL that aimed to stop another round of planned strikes in cargo and passenger transport from going ahead.

The GDL announced on Sunday its sixth round of strikes in a long-running dispute over working hours and pay.

A 24-hour walkout at Deutsche Bahn’s cargo division started on Monday at 1700 GMT, with another 24-hour strike by passenger train drivers set to follow from 0100 GMT on Tuesday.

“We consider these wave strikes to be disproportionate,” Deutsche Bahn human resources director Martin Seile said. “They jeopardise supply in the country. We are doing everything in the interests of our customers to prevent this strike.”

Deutsche Bahn said the 22-hour notice given in the case of the cargo rail strike was particularly short. It was appealing the labour court’s decision, it said.

GDL head Claus Weselsky said earlier on Monday that the union would push ahead with its so-called wave strikes – a series of actions called at short notice – to put pressure on Deutsche Bahn.

“We will not say how much we will strike and until when,” Weselsky said, refusing to be drawn on whether the strike would impact the busy Easter holidays.

(Reporting by Maria Martinez, Patricia Weiss, Markus Wacket, Editing by Rachel More and Bill Berkrot)