FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – Claus Weselsky remains head of the train drivers’ union GDL. The 63-year-old was re-elected by 97 percent of the delegates at the General Assembly, as the German Locomotive Drivers Union (GDL) announced on Tuesday in Frankfurt. Weselsky, who has been leading the union since 2008, has extended his term of office by two years in order to lead the GDL “in the demanding period of organizational expansion triggered by the Collective Bargaining Act”. The executive board, which Weselsky chairs, was therefore expanded to four members by one deputy.
“By expanding our organizational area from train staff to include all direct personnel, we have taken on a demanding task,” explained Weselsky. Last year, the GDL concluded collective agreements for employees in workshops and in administration at Deutsche Bahn for the first time in addition to the train staff. However, the contracts only come into effect if the GDL also has the most members in the respective company. The Collective Bargaining Act stipulates that in a company with two unions, only the collective agreement of the employee representative with the largest number of members is applied. On the railway, the GDL competes with the railway and transport union (EVG) for members./mar/DP/mis