The complaint would be examined on Monday from 0900 GMT, a spokesman for the labour court in the western city of Frankfurt said, adding it was not clear when a ruling would be made.

The German train drivers' union GDL has threatened strikes from next week, escalating a months-long wage dispute with Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL].

The rail operator said taking legal action had been its last option to prevent a new strike.

"The behaviour of the GDL officials is no longer comprehensible and (is) irresponsible," Deutsche Bahn personnel chief Margret Suckale said in a statement.

Michael Sommer, head of Germany's DGB trade unions federation, also blasted the GDL in an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse on Friday.

"This is an attempt by a mini trade union to pursue its selfish interests at the expense of others," Sommer said.

The DGB has said the GDL's actions risk rupturing the sector-wide consensus on wage bargaining among German unions.

In January, Deutsche Bahn and the GDL ended months of tortuous wage negotiations and disruptive strikes with a deal that gave the union's 34,000 drivers an 8 percent pay increase from March and another 3 percent from September.

But they are still haggling over a so-called "basic wage contract," which would set out how wage deals Deutsche Bahn had agreed with other unions fitted in with the GDL accord.

Deutsche Bahn had reached separate deals with two other unions, Transnet and GDBA. It was one of the GDL's core demands that it have its own agreement.

Deutsche Bahn has said it wants to keep its employees under the aegis of a sector-wide agreement.

See also:

RAILWAY DISRUPTIONS EXPECTED MONDAY

Emergency Plan to Deal With Train Drivers Strike

Der Spiegel Online: 07 March 2008

Germany's train drivers are set to go out on strike yet again on Monday in a move that has angered many. Rail service will be severely compromised but Deutsche Bahn has drawn up an emergency plan to ensure some trains will run.

A nationwide train drivers strike on Monday will have a big impact on services.

Germany's national railway, Deutsche Bahn, is seeking a court injunction against a massive strike planned for Monday by a major train drivers' union. The court, however, will not be able to rule on the issue until 10 hours after the strike is set to begin at midnight on Sunday.

"The behavior of the GDL officials is no longer comprehensible and is irresponsible," said Deutsche Bahn personnel chief Margret Suckale.

However, the GDL train drivers' union says it will go ahead with the strike anyway. "The strikes will begin as planned," said GDL deputy Claus Weselsky. The union said it would only return to work if the Frankfurt labor court issued a "legal ruling against the strike." The last time GDL went on strike late last year, Deutsche Bahn unsuccessfully sought a court injunction to stop the walkout.

Deutsche Bahn claims the union has no reason to call a strike -- the parties agreed in principle to a wage deal on January 30, but GDL is demanding an agreement that allows its 20,000 drivers to negoatiate their salaries separately from two other unions that represent rail workers.

The stakes are high for the national railway. According to Reuters, economists estimate a 62-hour rail strike by GDL in November (more...) cost the German economy €75 million ($114 million) a day. In addition to moving passenger traffic, Deutsche Bahn is the country's most-important logistics company, moving masses of freight.

But GDL chief Manfred Schell seems ready for a fight. "We can continue our labor struggle longer than Germany can handle it," he told Hanover's Neue Presse newspaper.

Schell's general tenor has miffed many. And some heavy hitters have stepped up in support of Deutsche Bahn. In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse on Friday, the head of Germany's DGB trade unions federation, Michael Sommer, said: "This is an attempt by a mini trade union to pursue its selfish interests at the expense of other."

Serious Disruptions to Service

Deutsche Bahn on Friday said it had drafted an emergency plan to deal with Monday's massive strike. The company said that even if the walkout by GDL goes ahead, at least half of long distance trains, in particular high-speed ICE services between major cities, will continue to operate. Intercity services were expected to be suspended almost entirely.

In western Germany regional train services will be cut by about half, but in the east only 10 per cent of trains will run. There will also be reduced services in Germany's major cities. In Hamburg the S-Bahn commuter train will run every 20 minutes, while the S-Bahn in Berlin, on some lines, will run only every hour. However, Berlin's S-Bahn ring line was expected to operate every 15 minutes.

If you are traveling in Germany, you can get English-language information on updated train schedules by calling Deutsche Bahn tollfree at 08000 99 66 33. From abroad, you can reach them at +49 1805 334444.

See also:

German strikers to idle railways indefinitely

Earth Times: 07 Mar 2008

Berlin - Germany was careering headlong Friday towards an all-out rail strike, which could bring much of its industry grinding to a halt, after a squabble among rail unions and the Deutsche Bahn rail company escalated out of control. The GDL union of train drivers said it would halt nationwide passenger, freight and suburban trains indefinitely from Monday and would remain on strike until Bahn gave in to its demand for a separate contract.

Deutsche Bahn published timetables for skeleton services to be operated by non-union drivers and asked other railways companies to provide engines to haul essential freight to German factories.

Bahn applied for a court injunction against the strike, arguing that the GDL had no legal right to close down essential services in what was essentially a demarcation dispute among unions, not a pay claim. GDL had accepted Bahn's pay offer.

But the case will not be heard till the middle of the day Monday, after the strike has begun.

Bahn's chief personnel officer, Margret Suckale, called a weekend meeting with GDL and its adversaries, the Transnet and GDBA unions. She promised intense negotiations to avert the strike.

The rail company refuses to recognize the militant GDL as sole voice of drivers and has encouraged the bigger unions not to surrender their voices in collective wage bargaining.

Ulrich Wilhelm, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, criticized the fresh escalation in a dispute that has dragged on for nearly a year.

He appealed to the company, which is owned by Berlin but independently managed, and the GDL to end their dispute for the sake of other employees, rail customers and the German economy.

A spokesman for Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said, "A strike would be immensely bad for the economy, for millions of passengers. We appeal to the common sense of both parties to come to a settlement at the last minute."

Bahn said many express trains would be idle from Monday, but scheduled trips by most ICE bullet trains would run on time. Services would be sparser than during past strikes because Bahn could not exhaust non-striking workers during a dispute that might last a long time.

A separate wage strike shut down Berlin's municipal mass-transit services for a third consecutive day on day Friday.

Rolling strikes in Germany's public services were, however, put on hold until the end of this month, when public employers invoked German labour law to terminate wage negotiations with unions and put the issue to arbitrators. Strikes are illegal while that happens.

The services union Verdi had organized weeks of pinpoint strikes by nurses, refuse workers, airport workers, administrative staff and childcare professionals to press its pay demands.