Stranded passengers expressed both sympathy and unhappiness about the strike action.
The 24-hour"warning" strikes called by the Verdi trade union and railway and transport union EVG were the latest in months of industrial action which has hit major European economies as higher food and energy prices dent living standards.
Worsening chronic labour shortages give unions a strong negotiating hand, economists say. The walkout is the biggest in the consensus-oriented country with a long history of collective wage bargaining since 1992, according to Verdi. Rail services were also cancelled by railway operator Deutsche Bahn. Striking workers wearing yellow or red high-visibility jackets blew horns, sirens and whistles, held up banners and waved flags during protests."Millions of passengers who depend on buses and trains are suffering from this excessive, exaggerated strike," a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson said on Monday.
Persistent cost pressures have pushed central banks to a series of interest rate increases, with policymakers urging Germany to avoid a destabilising price-wage spiral.Sharp wage increases could squeeze the fiscal room for manoeuvre for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government, making already fractious negotiations over the federal budget more difficult in his three-way coalition.
A government spokesperson on Monday said politics should stay out of the wage talks, while Interior Minister Nancy Faeser expressed confidence that a solution would be found this week.EVG chairman Martin Burkert warned further strikes were possible, including over the Easter holiday period. The union strife still pales in comparison with protests against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms in neighbouring France which have sparked the worst street violence in years.
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