(New: Details)
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Rail passengers have to prepare for numerous train cancellations and delays on Wednesday and Thursday. The German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) has called for a warning strike in rail traffic from Wednesday evening at 10 p.m. to Thursday evening at 6 p.m. Deutsche Bahn announced that it expects “massive impacts” on rail operations. “The DB will provide information as quickly and comprehensively as possible,” it said in an initial statement.
The GDL is calling on “locomotive drivers, train attendants, workshop employees and dispatchers in all companies as well as dispatchers and other professional groups at DB Netz” to stop work. In its call on Tuesday, the GDL primarily criticized the fact that the representatives of Deutsche Bahn saw no room for negotiation when demanding a reduction in working hours for shift workers.
The GDL and Deutsche Bahn have only been negotiating a new collective agreement since last Thursday. However, before the talks began, union boss Claus Weselsky had indicated in numerous interviews that his union would probably also have a labor dispute during the negotiation period. The DB representatives were all the more surprised a few days ago when Weselsky initially did not announce a strike on the first day of negotiations and instead negotiated for hours. So now the escalation two days before the next meeting. Whether this will still exist remained unclear at first.
Point of contention: reduction in working hours
In collective bargaining, the union is demanding, among other things, 555 euros more per month for employees and an inflation compensation bonus of up to 3,000 euros. What is particularly important to Weselsky is a reduction in working hours from 38 to 35 hours for shift workers with full wage compensation. He recently repeatedly emphasized the importance of this demand for the GDL.
The railway does not consider a reduction in working hours to be feasible and has so far refused any negotiations about it. Instead, DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler offered an eleven percent salary increase for a period of 32 months in the first round of negotiations. He also expressed his willingness to pay the inflation compensation premium; according to DB’s idea, the first half could be transferred as early as December. “Too little, too long and at the end of the day not enough,” was Weselsky’s comment on the offer.
Seiler: The decision to strike is absurd at this point in time
Despite the still major differences, both Seiler and Weselsky were able to draw positive things from the talks after the first round: The railway personnel director seemed satisfied that warning strikes were not an issue for the moment, and the union boss noted a tight schedule for further negotiations yourself as a success.
After the good mood, everything is turned upside down again with the sudden decision to strike two days before the next planned meeting. “Now the leadership of the train drivers’ union is showing its true face; it has never been interested in solutions. The decision to strike at this time is an absurdity,” said Seiler in a statement. “This is an impertinence for rail passengers. This strike is completely unnecessary.”
Potential for many train cancellations due to striking train drivers
The GDL is the smaller of two railway unions. She represents many train drivers, but also negotiates for other professional groups, such as train attendants or parts of the administration. The railway has so far applied the GDL collective agreements in 18 of around 300 companies and emphasizes that only around 10,000 railway employees are affected by the collective bargaining that has now begun. For comparison: The railway and transport union EVG negotiated new collective agreements for a good 180,000 DB employees in the spring and summer.
The potential for major disruption to rail traffic is still great in GDL industrial disputes – precisely because many of the extremely important train drivers are members. In addition, the GDL is also explicitly calling on those union members to strike who do not work in the 18 companies where pay is made according to GDL collective agreements.
The GDL call for industrial action is aimed not only at employees of Deutsche Bahn, but also at those of other companies where the union is currently negotiating new collective agreements. However, Deutsche Bahn is by far the largest railway company in Germany – the federally owned company is therefore the focus of a warning strike./nif/DP/ngu