BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Negotiations have been going on in Fulda since Tuesday about a new collective agreement at the railways – on Thursday the delegations of Deutsche Bahn and the railway and transport union EVG want to meet again for talks. The course of the negotiations will determine whether there could be another strike at Deutsche Bahn in the coming weeks. Both sides initially did not provide any information on Tuesday and Wednesday about how the talks were going.
Should both sides reach a collective bargaining agreement for a good 180,000 employees at Deutsche Bahn, further warning strikes at the company in the spring and summer would be ruled out. According to its own statements, the EVG does not expect an agreement to be reached this week. Instead, the negotiators could adjourn to a new date. A failure of the negotiations and, as a result, new warning strikes or even an indefinite strike cannot be ruled out.
The union demands at least 650 euros more per month with a term of the collective agreement of one year. So far, Deutsche Bahn has offered an inflation compensation premium and a tariff increase in increments of ten percent for lower and middle income earners and eight percent for higher earners. With a term of 27 months, the first stage would take effect in the coming year. The EVG is demanding a table increase in 2023./nif/DP/jha