Dhe hopes of millions of rail customers were focused on the judiciary at the beginning of the week – they were ultimately disappointed. On Monday evening, the Frankfurt labor court dealt with interim injunctions from the rail transport providers Deutsche Bahn and Transdev. The aim of these urgent applications was to have the planned three-day strikes by the train drivers' union GDL this week declared unlawful. The judges did not comply with the request. Should a possible appeal to the Hesse State Labor Court reach the same result, nothing will stand in the way of a large-scale strike on the railways from Wednesday onwards.
In the first instance, the court initially rejected an interim injunction from the railway company Transdev early in the evening. Transdev operates regional transport in eastern Germany and the northwest and is considered one of the largest rail transport providers in Germany, although well behind the DB. The presiding judge justified the rejection of Transdev's urgent application by saying that the mere allegation of excessive economic demands on the part of the company was not enough to prohibit a strike. (AZ: 3 Ga 3/24)
The DB argues similarly again and again when it comes to the claims of the GDL. The state-owned company had recently calculated that a total of 35 demands from the union would increase personnel costs by 50 percent. However, as in the Transdev case, the labor court in the DB case also refused to allow an interim injunction against a union strike in a separate ruling a few hours later. Some observers had expected this decision (AZ: 6 Ga 4/24). Deutsche Bahn announced that it would appeal the verdict to the Hessian State Labor Court. However, a decision on this will not be made until Tuesday.
Only 20 percent of the trains should run
This means that train drivers are likely to be in for a lot of trouble in the second half of the week. The DB assumes that the work stoppages will have a massive impact on traffic. As part of an emergency timetable, only 20 percent of the trains should run. On Sunday evening, the railway sharply criticized the three-day strike planned by the GDL and announced that it would take legal action to stop it. “This strike is not only absolutely unnecessary, but we also consider it not legally permissible,” said DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler.
In contrast, GDL boss Claus Weselsky expressed optimism on Monday before the court proceedings. “We rely on the law being on our side. We legally raised demands, we lawfully terminated all collective agreements,” he said in Frankfurt. “Conducting a three-day strike is certainly not disproportionate.”
A few days ago, the state-owned company presented an offer relating to working hours, which the train drivers' union rejected, calling it “insubstantial” and “poisoned”. The GDL wants to fight for a thirty-five-hour week with full wage compensation. The railway offers to expand working time choice models. Employees could then opt for weekly working hours between 35 and 40 hours. However, in the event of a reduction, they would have to accept financial losses. The GDL, in turn, referred to successful collective agreements with the smaller railway companies Netinera and Go-Ahead, which, among other things, provide for a gradual reduction in working hours to a thirty-five-hour week without a reduction in wages from 2025.
Third and longest industrial dispute to date in the current collective bargaining dispute
The upcoming strike in passenger traffic is scheduled to begin on Wednesday at 2 a.m. and last until Friday evening at 6 p.m. Freight traffic is scheduled to start on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. It would be the third and longest industrial dispute to date in the current collective bargaining dispute between GDL and Bahn.
The DB assumes that the train drivers' strike this week will affect millions of passengers. The company once again announced an emergency timetable with severely limited services: “For these journeys, the railway uses longer trains with more seats in order to be able to bring as many people as possible to their destination,” it said. “However, a ride cannot be guaranteed.” The range of trains on regional transport is also likely to be drastically limited. The state-owned company asked passengers to postpone their trip. If you comply, you can use your ticket at a later date.
Meanwhile, the strike does not affect all rail companies in Germany equally. The regional train provider Abellio, which is primarily active in Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony and Thuringia, announced that it would not be on strike and would therefore not be directly affected. However, there could be strike-related restrictions on the lines if employees of the rail network operator took part in the strike.
The collective bargaining dispute with the DB is also about whether the GDL is even “tariff-eligible” in comparison to the much larger rail union EVG, with which it is in fierce competition. The railway is questioning this after the GDL founded a temporary worker cooperative called Fair Train in the summer. Their goal is to poach train drivers from the railway and then hire them out to railway companies under their own tariff conditions.
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