EA piece of news that doesn't come as a surprise, but has unpleasant consequences for passengers: The German Train Drivers' Union (GDL) is once again calling on its members to strike in the industrial dispute with the railway. The strike is scheduled to begin in passenger traffic on Wednesday at 2 a.m. and last until Friday evening at 6 p.m. In freight transport, the GDL members should stop work on Tuesday evening.
According to the GDL, the negotiations with Deutsche Bahn failed on November 24, 2023 “because of the state-owned company’s refusal to hold talks with the GDL about legitimate core demands,” as the union’s statement said on Sunday evening.
The company did not use the Christmas truce to counter industrial action with a negotiable offer. In addition, the railway is throwing “another smokescreen” with the declaratory judgment lawsuit filed against the GDL before the Hesse regional court. The Deutsche Bahn's accusation that the GDL is both an employer and a union at the Fairtrain cooperative is not true and shows “the desperation of an employer who is alien to the community and who is not afraid of any means, no matter how absurd, in order to eliminate the strong GDL.”
Shortly after the strike call became known, Deutsche Bahn announced that it would take action against the GDL strike. The company announced on Sunday evening that the railway would submit a corresponding urgent application for an interim injunction to the Frankfurt am Main labor court. “This strike is not only absolutely unnecessary, but we also consider it not legally permissible,” said Human Resources Director Martin Seiler, according to the statement.
Seiler said that only two days ago the railway presented an expanded offer in which the company took a big step towards meeting the union's core demand for working hours. The railway is willing to compromise, the GDL leadership has overreached, “they finally have to come to their senses”. The GDL should call off the strike and instead attend the negotiation date proposed by the company on Wednesday.
Bahn presented a new offer on Friday
On Monday, the union's self-imposed “Christmas peace” ends in the collective bargaining dispute with Deutsche Bahn and other companies. In a strike vote by the GDL among its members in the run-up to Christmas, around 97 percent of participants spoke out in favor of indefinite strikes.
The federally owned company made a new offer to the union on Friday shortly before the end of the “Christmas break” in order to avert the strike. It was the first time in the months-long collective bargaining dispute that Deutsche Bahn showed willingness to talk about reorganizing the working hours of train drivers.
The new offer stipulated that employees could reduce their working hours if they accepted a reduction in their salary. The railway has already agreed on similar models with the larger railway and transport union (EVG) with a view to vacation. For several years now, EVG members have been able to get six or twelve days more vacation per year in return for a collectively agreed wage increase. This option is not available at GDL.
The railway's lawsuit exacerbates the tariff conflict
Last Tuesday, the railway also filed a lawsuit against the union before the Hesse State Labor Court. With the declaratory judgment action, the group is taking action against the Fairtrain cooperative, which the GDL founded in the summer. According to GDL boss Claus Weselsky, the aim of the rental company is to poach train drivers from the railway and to loan them out to railway companies under their own tariff conditions. The railway sees this as a conflict of interest and questions the GDL's ability to negotiate.
The legal dispute exacerbates the collective bargaining conflict with the GDL and could have an impact on a future collective agreement that the railway continues to strive for with the GDL.
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