- In the middle of the negotiations, the German unions in the rail sector are calling for a new strike on Friday in order to “increase the pressure” on Deutsche Bahn.
- The unions are demanding significant increases to offset inflation, which is stabilizing at a high level.
- For 20 minutes, Jacques-Pierre Gougeon, director of the Germany observatory at Iris, decodes this social crisis with German sauce.
Everyone has their own crisis. In France, the controversial pension reform has been in the headlines for several months. With our German neighbor, the social tensions at Deutsche Bahn have frozen. After a strike on March 27, the unions are calling for a new protest movement this Friday. They are demanding wage increases to offset runaway inflation. For 20 minutes, academic Jacques-Pierre Gougeon, researcher at Iris and specialist in Germany, decodes this social crisis across the Rhine.
Why are the strikes at Deutsche Bahn increasing?
This can be explained by two elements. First, the inflation rate in Germany. It was down late last year but has started to rise again. The various economic institutes and Deutsche Bank forecast an inflation rate of between 6 and 7%, which remains high, hence the demand from the transport unions (Verdi and EVG) for a significant increase. They demand 650 euros more per month. The management of Deutsche Bahn finds it too high and proposes an increase of 5%.
Then the management of Deutsche Bahn is sharply criticized. In early 2023, a report by the German Court of Auditors on the railway company was damning: it points to poorly maintained and aging infrastructure and, most importantly, a very high level of debt, of the order of 30 billion euros in 2022, compared to 10 billion a year 2016. All of this contradicts the goal of the federal government, which wants to double the number of rail passengers by 2030.
Unions are encouraging workers to strike only from 3am to 11am in the morning. Why this operation?
The Germans call it a warning strike. Unions often do this to sound the alarm, saying: we don’t agree, but we don’t want to block everything. The aim is to put pressure on the employer during the negotiations. In general, this type of strike is understood by public opinion, it is part of social relations. If that doesn’t work, there will be more strikes like in France.
There were strikes in schools and hospitals. Could other sectors take inspiration from rail workers?
Unions work a lot by industry. The other organizations are not involved in this matter. Not everyone is in this fight right now, but it can spread. For now, movement is limited to transportation, but it’s clear that inflation is generally uneasy. It’s a purchasing power problem and Germans have always feared inflation, which reminds them of the dark days of the 1920s and 1930s.
Is the French social crisis spurring on the German trade unions?
The German media have talked a lot about the protests against the pension reform and insisted on union cohesion. It inevitably interests the trade unions across the Rhine, even if the subject is not the same.