German Rail Workers Strike on Pay Inequity

BERLIN â€”  More than a quarter-million railroad workers in eastern Germany were on strike for higher pay today in the first widespread job action since Germany was reunited seven weeks ago.

The strike started Sunday evening in Berlin, halting intercity rail traffic from the main stations in the eastern and western halves of the city, and it spread to 26 other cities in eastern Germany this morning, union spokesmen said.

Pay levels in the former Communist part of the country for almost all lines of work are about a third of western pay scales, and most industries plan to raise eastern scales gradually over several years to levels in the West.

In another job action related to German reunification, 10,000 civilian workers at NATO bases staged warning strikes today. Their union, the Public Service and Transport Union, said the workers need higher pay, job protection or retraining because NATO troop reductions are expected to cut 23,000 of the 100,000 civilian jobs at NATO bases.

The warning strikes hit such major U.S. bases as Ramstein Air Base in southwest Germany and Rhein-Main Air Base just outside Frankfurt, union spokesman Rainer Hillgaertner said. But there was no immediate indication of possible impact on U.S. troop movements through the bases to the Persian Gulf, U.S. spokesmen said.

The strikes “are for better contracts for the workers. They are not politically motivated and are not directed at slowing down movement of soldiers� to the gulf region, Hillgaertner said.

The eastern and western rail companies in Germany are to be gradually unified by 1992, but the eastern rail workers joined the western Union of German Rail Workers months ago.

They demand immediate raises to 50% to 60% of levels in western Germany and protection against the layoffs expected in many eastern industries. Last week management said it anticipated laying off 68,000 eastern rail workers.

The union says western rail workers get about $675 a month more than their eastern counterparts, whose pay ranges from $675 to $945 a month.

Commuter trains and subways were unaffected by the strike, but its impact extended to western Germany and neighboring countries to the east.

Trains from western German cities such as Frankfurt and Hamburg to Berlin and other cities in the east were canceled, and hundreds of passengers were put on buses instead. Trains from Hungary and Romania were stopped at the border in Czechoslovakia.