EA two-day rail strike is bad enough. Even worse is a strike that is based on a “mistake in thinking” and is therefore nothing more than a mistake. An error that cannot be eliminated even if it is recognized as such. The train drivers' union GDL has not been able to shake this impression since its boss, Claus Weselsky, had to admit such a mistake in reasoning. This is no small matter because he was referring to the current offer from Deutsche Bahn and was intended to serve as evidence of the unwillingness to compromise.
The President of the Federal Association of Local Rail Transport, Thomas Prechtl, made this connection on Wednesday: It should not happen that “from Thursday onwards, millions of passengers will not be able to come to work again because of such an error in reasoning, because trains are not running due to the strike”.
The strike is not a misunderstanding
Of course, this picture is incomplete: the rail strike is by no means based on a misunderstanding, but rather is the result of a hopeless dispute that affects not only the future of Deutsche Bahn, but rail transport as a whole, including small and medium-sized railway companies. The argument is still misleading because it reflects the growing resentment that has built up among the population against the ever-increasing number of strikes in the entire transport sector: the train drivers are on strike for the fifth time, and there are also strikes by the Verdi service union in public transport and at airports.
And as if that wasn't enough, the roads are blocked by tractors. The nerves are on edge when the feeling arises that not everyone involved is approaching the question of whether strikes are really necessary with the necessary seriousness and is making “errors in thinking” that, however, correcting them does not change the outcome.
Weselsky's “error in thinking” referred to the latest status of the negotiations between Deutsche Bahn and the GDL, after both sides had negotiated with each other in complete discretion for four weeks, including two moderators. In the days before the abrupt demolition, the impression had spread that we were on the verge of a breakthrough, so the end came without warning. In such a situation, the search for culprits is inevitable, especially since Weselsky and the railway accused each other: the employer side shows “no willingness to compromise,” claims the GDL. The railway countered that the GDL was not willing to make compromises.
Half an hour that makes a big difference
The fact is: Weselsky's statements at a press conference on Monday are in contrast to a written proposal from the moderators for the further progress of the talks between Deutsche Bahn and the GDL. At the press conference, Weselsky claimed that the railway had only offered a reduction in working hours by one hour from 38 to 37 hours in relation to the core demand.
The two “honorable moderators”, the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther, and the former Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière, were also far away from the GDL demand of a 35-hour week with 36.5 hours. In fact, there were 36 hours in the paper, which quickly found its way to the public after the irritating press conference. Since then, Weselsky has found himself in need of explanation. He admitted that his answer was incorrect, but also: “I never lied.” Weselsky made this clear on Thursday on Deutschlandfunk.
Someone who without hesitation brands a railway board member as a “lying baron” and accuses the management of “filling their pockets” feels compelled to make this far-reaching statement. Weselsky now has to laboriously explain that the situation is complicated and the list of reasons for rejection is longer than he himself recently claimed.
Formally it's about half an hour, but it's actually about a lot more. That's why everything boils down to a man who knew how to operate the keyboard of public perception for a long time and is now floundering. GDL boss Claus Weselsky is leader and target in one person: the GDL carries out what he says, but at the same time the criticism pours out on him alone. Since Weselsky publicly announced that in the next round he would even waive the two-day notice period and switch to “wave strikes,” i.e. the strikes would be more frequent and in quick succession, satire has shown no mercy. Weselsky with a perm is an even more loving version, Weselsky in a black coat and derailed features shows him as a destructive autocrat.
These analogies can only take off because this round of collective bargaining has completely slipped away. There are almost no rules to the game. Unlike in many other countries, there is no legal right to strike, but rather principles established by the Federal Labor Court. At the heart of every legal procedure is the proportionality test, but this is usually limited to formal aspects.
Judges do not want to and cannot decide whether the strike demands raised can actually be met by the employer. Lawsuits are therefore regularly dismissed, and Deutsche Bahn also tried unsuccessfully in the current collective bargaining round. The same applies to the competitor Transdev, whose argument that it could not sustain a strike economically was not successful in court. These arguments play no role in court. However, where there are no rules, the only thing that counts is the sense of responsibility of the people involved. And there are considerable doubts about that.
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