BERLIN/FRANKFURT, March 27 (Reuters) – Airports and bus and train stations across Germany were at a standstill on Monday morning, disrupting millions of commuters and travellers at the start of the work week during one of the largest walkouts in decades in Europe's largest economy.
The 24-hour strikes called by the Verdi trade union and railway and transport union EVG were the latest in months of industrial action that has hit major European economies as higher food and energy prices dent living standards.
Two of the country's largest airports, Munich and Frankfurt, suspended flights, while long-distance rail services were cancelled by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn.
The Verdi union is negotiating on behalf of around 2.5 million employees in the public sector, including in public transport and at airports, while railway and transport union EVG negotiates for around 230,000 employees at railway operator Deutsche Bahn and bus companies.
Frank Werneke, head of the Verdi labour union, who spoke of the largest strike in decades, said the labour action was a matter of survival for millions of workers amid high inflation, according to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
German consumer prices rose more than anticipated in February – up 9.3% from a year earlier – as cost pressures remained even as the European Central Bank has been trying to tame them with a series of interest-rate increases.
EVG chairman Martin Burkert told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper's Monday edition that employers had not yet made a viable offer and warned that further warning strikes were possible, including over the upcoming Easter holiday period.
Deutsche Bahn on Sunday said the strike was "completely excessive, groundless and unnecessary," and employers are warning that higher wages for transport workers would result in higher fares and taxes to make up the difference. (Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Tesla on Sunday reported first quarter delivery and production numbers that topped estimates, indicating price cuts it initiated across the globe are boosting demand.
Tesla delivered 422,875 vehicles compared with analyst expectations for 430,008 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data. Investors have been watching CEO Elon Musk's gamble that cutting prices would stimulate sales, making up for the profit hit from eroding margins. Shares have soared more than 68% this year on hopes that Tesla would win a price war it started, although the stock remains more than 50% down from its peak in November 2021.
Tesla sold a record number of cars in the first three months of the year after Elon Musk slashed prices in the face of growing competition from rivals.
The first quarter sales were a record for the company. The price cuts appeared to have raised demand despite increasing interest rates designed to slow the economy and curb inflation. Analysts are watching to see if the price drops cut into the company's profit and margins per vehicle. The company says it will release first-quarter after the markets close on April 19.
Tesla deliveries hit a record in Q1, but fell short of views yet again. Tesla stock is up 68% in 2023, breaking out into a buy zone Friday.
Tesla and BYD are the world's largest electric-vehicle makers. In 2022, BYD vehicle sales raced far past Tesla's. Among all-battery electric vehicles, or BEVs, Tesla still leads, though BYD is closing the gap. Tesla announced big price cuts in China and key Asian markets on Jan. 6, followed by sweeping discounts in the U.S. and Europe.
Chinese electric vehicle maker, and Tesla competitor, BYD continues to post very impressive growth figures. Tesla investors can be both a little concerned and a little encouraged by BYD’s numbers. The March 2023 figures include 102,670 all battery electric vehicles and 103,419 plug-in hybrid models.
The company delivered around 36% more vehicles to customers in the first quarter than it did a year earlier.
March deliveries from the three Chinese EV makers fell within the companies' guided ranges. Combined deliveries were up month over month and year over year.
The billionaire said autonomous vehicles can save time, money, and reduce inequities in transport access—but it'll be decades before that happens.
The Internal Revenue Service hasn't made it clear what electric vehicles will qualify for purchase tax credits under the latest regime.
Volkswagen does not plan to develop a new combustion engine generation of its legendary Golf car, brand chief Thomas Schaefer told autos publication Automobilwoche on Sunday, marking the end of the line for a vehicle on sale since 1974. The Golf 8, currently in production, will be the last combustion engine version of the hatchback car, with one more series of updates expected next year. Volkswagen's decision not to invest in upgrading the Golf, for decades Europe's bestselling car, is a marker of the shift in investment by the carmaker from retooling combustion engines to bringing down the cost of electric vehicles.
Walt Disney has for now outmaneuvered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the battle for control over the more than 24,000-acre parcel near Orlando where Walt Disney World Resort is located.
GM is working with Google to offer built-in infotainment systems in future EVs that will allow the car to help customers with charging and navigation.
Issued by the Treasury Department Friday, the criteria aim to make the U.S. less reliant on batteries and critical minerals shipped from China.
Since 2018, the Department of Labor has seen an alarming increase in federal child labor violations, according to a news release.
After a tough 2022, analysts say Q1 U.S. auto sales are likely to grow more than expected, led by General Motors, Ford and Tesla.
A Manhattan grand jury on Thursday voted to indict Donald Trump for his role in paying hush-money to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election. Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing and has said the probe by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, is politically motivated. The indictment will kick off a process in which Mr. Trump will likely travel to Manhattan to face the charges.
A group of Boy Scouts' insurers on Friday asked a judge to delay the youth group's exit from bankruptcy to allow them more time to appeal a record-setting $2.46 billion settlement of sexual abuse claims. More than a dozen insurers, including Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, have said the Boy Scouts' bankruptcy settlement puts them on the hook for paying "thousands of invalid and questionable claims." U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews in Wilmington, Delaware, rejected the insurers' initial appeal on Tuesday, finding the settlement was a good faith effort to resolve claims by more than 80,000 men who say they were abused as children by troop leaders.
With her 3-year-old daughter sitting inside a red Target shopping cart, Aya Khalil looked through the aisles with anticipation. The author was on a mission: See for herself that her children's book about a boy and his grandmother baking for an Islamic feast was actually carried by her local Target store in Toledo. Khalil giggled.