The EVG wants to decide on permanent strikes at Deutsche Bahn on Monday.
Image: dpa
The EVG members had four weeks to decide: arbitration award or open-ended industrial action. Both will be really expensive for the railways.
SThe polls have been closed since Friday afternoon: around 110,000 members of the railway and transport union (EVG) had to vote on an indefinite strike at Deutsche Bahn by 12 noon. The result will not be announced until Monday afternoon, then Deutsche Bahn, its customers and last but not least the EVG itself will know whether they are heading for a hot autumn with a labor dispute that is difficult to calculate and damage in the millions. According to Deutsche Bahn, the previous warning strikes have cost around 100 million euros in this wage round. Should there actually be an open-ended labor dispute at the end of the four-week ballot, the damage is likely to be much greater.
It would be the largest labor dispute at Deutsche Bahn in more than 30 years. At that time it was still a real authority as the “Deutsche Bundesbahn” that was able to cushion part of the strike through its officials. The railways are now at the mercy of the EVG, for better or for worse, because some of its members occupy key roles in the company: if the employees in the signal boxes go on strike, hardly anything goes on the tracks – by the way, neither does the competitor.
#EVG #decides #unlimited #rail #strike