This comes after a previous strike organized at the end of March, where the union said in a statement, “We must increase pressure on employers who believe they can ignore the demands of their employees.”
The Friday strike is scheduled to run from 03:00 to 11:00 local time across the country.
Train operator Deutsche Bahn warned that this would have a “huge impact on the movement of flights”, especially on “long-distance trains”.
“It’s not about punishing the commuters as the weekend approaches, but to increase the pressure on the employer who didn’t make an acceptable offer,” Cosima Angenshai of the EVG union said during an online press conference.
The EVG union represents some 230,000 employees in about fifty transport companies in the country, the most important of which is Deutsche Bahn.
Martin Seiler, the company’s human resources director, called the strike “completely useless”, saying EVG union was not keeping all standards with the measure, and calling for “solutions to be found around the negotiating table”.
The unions are demanding a 12 percent wage increase over twelve months or a minimum salary increase of 650 euros (about $711), and are rejecting the one-off inflation bonus proposed by employers.
Although inflation slowed to 7.4 percent in March in Germany, from a peak of 8.8 percent last October, it was still very high.
“The railway and transportation companies are already suffering from a huge shortage of employees and new employees can only be hired if they are paid better,” the statement added.
This movement falls within the context of increasing social tension in the largest economy in Europe, where several strikes have been organized for wage increases since the beginning of the year in various sectors, including schools and hospitals, through the post office.
A broad strike movement on March 27 paralyzed Germany’s transport sector, including airports, for 24 hours, at the call of EVG and the public service workers’ union Verdi.
The Verdi union, which represents about 2.5 million public sector employees, has been in difficult negotiations with the government and municipalities for several weeks.
It is scheduled to resume these talks Saturday with the aim of reaching an agreement on salaries.
This union also called on security staff at several German airports to stop working from Thursday to Friday.
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