DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Against the backdrop of the current strikes in rail and air transport, the debate about a reform of the right to strike is gathering pace. "The strikes in the critical infrastructure are not only annoying, they are also a brake on growth," said Steffen Kampeter, Managing Director of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations, in the Rheinische Post newspaper (Friday). "The economic damage not only affects the companies directly affected, but the entire economy." Kampeter described the unions' actions as "disproportionate" and called on legislators to take action. "We need a clear right to take industrial action, especially for the railroads and similar sectors."

Economist Veronika Grimm also expects the Verdi and GDL unions to give in in the current wage disputes at Deutsche Bahn and Lufthansa. "The right to strike enjoys a high level of protection and that is a good thing. But if the strikes increasingly burden competitiveness, it is of course possible that the legislator will intervene and adjust the regulations," said Grimm in the Rheinische Post. For example, one could come up with the idea of prescribing an arbitration procedure before a strike.

Similar demands are coming from the opposition: Günter Krings, legal policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, is calling for a strike law with mandatory lead times for industrial action in critical infrastructure. The CDU politician told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) that such a law "should include standards for proportionality and the necessary lead times for strikes in public services and critical infrastructure". "This is the only way that customers, who are also the biggest victims of the rail strikes, can take precautions in good time."/swe/DP/zb