BERLIN, Nov 14 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - German train drivers started a 62-hour nationwide strike on freight routes on Wednesday, raising fears about the impact on Europe's biggest economy of a long-running wage dispute with rail operator Deutsche Bahn.
The GDL train drivers' union plans to extend the walkouts -- the biggest strike in Deutsche Bahn's history -- to passenger services from 0100 GMT on Thursday, causing misery to millions of travellers. The freight stoppages started at 1100 GMT.
The action, which raises the pressure in the dispute with Deutsche Bahn, coincides with a nationwide strike by transport workers in neighbouring France over pension reform.
"Even without exactly quantifying it, the rail strike does have an economic effect and it is a burden on an otherwise positive economy," government spokesman Thomas Steg said at a regular news conference in Berlin.
A 42-hour strike last week paralysed about 90 percent of German freight routes and cost the economy 50 million euros ($73.3 million) a day, according to economists. That could rise to 500 million euros a day if the strikes last more than a week.
GDL, which says its workers are underpaid compared to drivers in other European countries, is demanding that Deutsche Bahn makes a new wage offer so the two sides can restart talks.
"We are seeing that the population -- and the public as a whole -- understands who is responsible for this strike -- and that is Deutsche Bahn management," GDL deputy leader Claus Weselsky told German television.
Most polls show strong public support for the union.
GDL, the smallest of three rail workers' unions, has staged a series of strikes over the last few months, mostly on local and regional services and has even raised the prospect of open-ended strikes if it sees no new offer.
The union wants its own wage deal for its 34,000 drivers, separate from one agreed by the railway's other 195,000 workers in July which gave them a 4.5 percent pay rise.
The GDL has said it could negotiate its initial demand for a 31 percent wage increase if it gets its own contract. Deutsche Bahn wants to keep its employees under a sector-wide agreement.
Economists warn that if GDL gets its own contract, it could fragment Germany's unions and push up labour costs by encouraging other workers to press for separate wage deals.
With Deutsche Bahn saying it will not be making a new offer, the dispute shows little sign of being resolved soon.
Both stoppages are due to end on Saturday at 0100 GMT.
The dispute comes amid difficult discussions on the planned partial privatisation of Deutsche Bahn by 2009. The two ruling parties in Merkel's coalition are wrangling about the details and many experts say the flotation is doomed.
bdnews24.com/lq/1946hrs
