By René Garzke
The negotiations are deadlocked. An agreement between Deutsche Bahn and the railway union (EVG): not in sight! But new strikes.
Cosima Ingenschay (44), chief negotiator of the Knallhart union, threatened in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung’ to: ‘We could paralyze the railways for weeks.’ In her opinion, two warning strikes should have been enough to get a negotiable offer from Deutsche Bahn.
Empty platforms during the train strike in Berlin (archive photo) Photo: dpa
“But the railways are obviously not interested in serious negotiations,” said Ingenschay, who is conducting the negotiations with Kristian Loroch (46) for the union. The next warning strikes will therefore last longer. “The effects obviously have to be more massive so that it hurts the employer,” said the Vice-Head of the EVG.
She explains her harshness as follows: “If we give in now, the employees will run away from the train and things will get even worse for the passengers. That would be bad.”
The employees would not have simple evJobs. “They are outside a lot, they also work in the evening, at night and on weekends. They have to be paid better,” says Ingenschay.
It is conceivable that the EVG would start campaigns in different regions one after the other. Or that train attendants and other professional groups go on strike in turn.
But these are all still conceptual models. “The railway system is so fragile that if we take out a few signal boxes, everything will collapse. The new strikes could affect several days,” said Ingenschay.
There is zoffing for THESE tariff conditions
Deutsche Bahn declared the talks of the third round of negotiations to be over last Wednesday. The reason was the union’s refusal to negotiate the new offer from Deutsche Bahn for around 180,000 employees, the group had announced.
Actually, there should be an inflation compensation of 2850 euros for all employees. To this end, salaries should be gradually increased by a total of ten percent from March next year. In the upper wage groups by eight percent.
The union rejected the offer as non-negotiable. It demands at least 650 euros more per month or twelve percent for the upper income group and a term of one year.
DB boss Richard Lutz (58) said that the current offer is the highest in the company’s history. “We have more than doubled our first offer and have taken a huge step towards the union.” “Then the question arises: What else?”
The next negotiation date at the railway is scheduled for the end of May.