In the company's opinion, the strike planned from Wednesday to Friday has no legal basis. DB wants to interrupt the strike scheduled for Wednesday and hopes for a quick decision from the courts.
Ahead of the GDL train drivers' union's multi-day strike this week, Deutsche Bahn (DB) is awaiting a stop signal from the judges. The company announced on Monday that it had submitted a request for an injunction to the Frankfurt Labor Court. The court confirmed receipt, but has not yet set a hearing date. According to the group, the strike has no legal basis. DB wants to interrupt the strike scheduled for Wednesday.
Train drivers' union GDL wants to strike in passenger transport from 2am on Wednesday to 6pm on Friday – in a week when serious disruptions to German road traffic are expected due to farmers' protests. Experience shows that, even before the strike, some trains were not running according to plan. Additionally, it usually takes some time for traffic to return to normal.
An injunction from the Labor Court could be issued quickly in an accelerated procedure. Judges could consider the matter as early as Monday. It is also possible to appeal in the second instance to the Hessian State Labor Court in Frankfurt.
Union wants to increase pressure in collective bargaining dispute
With the strike, the German union led by its president Claus Weselsky wants to increase pressure in the collective bargaining dispute, which is about money, but also about shorter working hours for shift workers on full pay. Deutsche Bahn rejects this.
During two shorter GDL alert strikes last year, the railway had to cancel about 80% of its long-distance transport services. The effects on regional transport varied greatly depending on the region. In some German federal states there were almost no trains running anymore. Unless strike participation differs fundamentally, similar effects as the two warning strikes can now be expected.
Deutsche Bahn announced on Sunday evening that it would draw up an emergency timetable for long-distance, regional and S-Bahn traffic, but that it would only contain a “very limited range of trains”. “Please avoid unnecessary travel during the GDL strike and postpone your trip to another time,” an online statement read.
According to a statement, within the scope of the emergency schedule, DB intends to use longer trains with more seats in long-distance transport to be able to take as many people as possible to their destination. “However, a trip cannot be guaranteed,” the company said.
DB Human Resources Director: Strike is “absolutely unnecessary”
“Not only is this strike absolutely unnecessary, we also consider it legally impermissible,” said DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler. “Because the machinists’ union lost its negotiating capacity when it founded its temporary workers’ cooperative.”
GDL founded this cooperative called Fair Train in the summer. According to Weselsky, the company's objective is to steal train drivers from the railroad and rent them to railroad companies under their own tariff conditions. It is not clear whether this will work and especially whether there will be enough train drivers who will abandon the railway and work for Fair Train.
Deutsche Bahn sees a conflict of interest in the cooperative: From the group's perspective, GDL acts both as an employer and as a union. This is why the railway recently took legal action against GDL at the state labor court in Hesse.
Weselsky criticized the lawsuit on Sunday as a “smoking gun” and dismissed the accusation. It shows “the desperation of a socially alienated employer who is not afraid of any means, however absurd, to eliminate the strong GDL”. (APA/dpa)