The strike by train drivers in the GDL union has once again shown the power that rail workers and the working class as a whole can wield. It makes clear what a united struggle by all railway workers could achieve.
The Israeli government could not carry out its brutal genocide against the Palestinians without the support of the German government, and the German government could not maintain this support without the close cooperation of the Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB, German Trade Union Confederation.
At its meeting on Tuesday, the Rail Action Committee adopted a resolution in support of the call by Palestinian trade unions to stop transporting weapons to Israel.
There have been spontaneous pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Germany this week, despite efforts by the German government, police and courts to ban all protests against the Israeli army’s brutal crackdown on Gaza.
The death of a young train driver near Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia is already the ninth fatal accident this year, significantly more than in previous years. The rank-and-file Rail Action Committee is placing the issue of safety at the centre of its work.