07/01/2024 09:33 (current 07/01/2024 09:33)
Strikes can be expected in Germany from Wednesday ©APA/dpa
Uncertainty on the rails will resume for passengers in Germany from Monday. So the self-imposed “Christmas truce” of the German Locomotive Drivers' Union (GDL) ends in the collective bargaining dispute with Deutsche Bahn and other companies. Following the GDL's strike vote among its members in the run-up to Christmas, the strikes could last significantly longer than they have recently. Around 97 percent of participants were in favor of indefinite strikes.
At least on Monday and Tuesday, rail traffic in Germany should operate normally. According to dbb head Ulrich Silberbach, an important conference of the German Civil Service Association (dbb), of which the GDL is a member, should not be marred by industrial disputes on the railway. “I agreed with Claus Weselsky before Christmas that there would be no strikes during the conference in Cologne,” Silberbach told the “Kölner Stadtanzeiger” a few days ago. “Arrival and departure are guaranteed. What happens next is no longer in my hands.”
Strikes on the tracks can be expected at any time, from Wednesday at the latest. Especially since it is currently not foreseeable that the two sides will come closer in the collective bargaining dispute. Deutsche Bahn expanded its previous offer again on Friday. For the first time, she accepted the reduction in working hours required by the GDL. However, Group Human Resources Director Martin Seiler still doesn't want to know anything about the full salary compensation that is also being demanded.
The GDL's main demand is the reduction of shift workers' working hours from 38 to 35 hours per week without loss of salary. GDL has already reached this agreement with two smaller railway companies, Netinera and Go Ahead. According to union leader Claus Weselsky, she wants to implement these results as a model for the entire sector. “We are committed to achieving comparable business in the market,” he said a few weeks ago. “We will not give up.”
Last Friday, the railway proposed expanding existing models for choosing working hours. Until now, employees can decide whether they want more money, more vacation, or fewer working days per week. You could reduce your weekly hours from 39 to 37, but you would receive 5.7% less pay. The railway now offers the possibility of reducing the weekly working hours in this modality by up to 35 hours. If you want, you can also work up to 40 hours a week for a little more money.
Seiler emphasized that anyone who decides to reduce working hours will have to make concessions on a collectively agreed pay increase. The group continues to reject the full salary compensation required by the GDL.
The conflict is also aggravated by a lawsuit brought by Deutsche Bahn before the Labor Court of the State of Hesse. The company presented it last Tuesday. Deutsche Bahn is taking action against the Fairtrain cooperative, founded by GDL in the summer. According to Weselsky, the rental company's objective is to steal train drivers from the railroad and lend them to railroad companies under their own tariff conditions. The railway sees this as a conflict of interest and questions the collective bargaining capacity of GDL, which from the company's perspective now acts as both an employer and a union.
The legal dispute only marginally concerns issues specific to the collective bargaining dispute. In any case, the railway cannot avoid strikes. But it could have an impact on a future collective agreement that the railway continues to fight with GDL.