The locomotive drivers’ union (GDL) does not want to begin its announced strikes in passenger transport on Monday, but rather on Wednesday night. The strike should then last until Friday evening. With the new rail strike, the GDL is reporting back after the so-called “Christmas truce”.
“The GDL members at Deutsche Bahn AG, Transdev and City Bahn Chemnitz are being asked to stop work from January 10th at 2 a.m. to January 12th at 6 p.m.,” the GDL announced on Sunday evening. The work stoppage at DB Cargo, however, begins on January 9th at 6 p.m. It was said that the railway company did not use the Christmas truce to counter industrial action with a negotiable offer.
The union had ruled out industrial action over the Christmas and New Year period up to and including January 7th. Now follows the third and longest strike in the ongoing collective bargaining dispute.
In the ongoing collective bargaining dispute, the GDL had already gotten the green light from its members for indefinite strikes before Christmas. GDL boss Claus Weselsky had announced that travelers would have to expect longer labor disputes from January 8th. However, the German Civil Service Association recently declared that there would probably not be a strike on Monday and Tuesday in view of an important meeting of the association, of which the GDL is also a member.
The GDL has already brought large parts of rail traffic in Germany to a standstill twice with warning strikes.
The fronts in the collective bargaining conflict remain hardened. The GDL declared the negotiations with the railways and also with its competitor Transdev to have failed in November. The sticking point is the GDL’s demand for a reduction in weekly working hours for shift workers from 38 to 35 hours with full wage compensation.
The railway had expanded its previous offer again on Friday. For the first time, she took up the reduction in working hours demanded by the GDL. However, Group Human Resources Director Martin Seiler still does not want to know anything about the full wage compensation that is also being demanded.
On Friday, the railway proposed expanding existing choice models for working hours. Up to now, employees can decide whether they want more money, more vacation or fewer working days per week. You could reduce your weekly hours from 39 to 37, but you would receive 5.7 percent less pay. The railway now offers the possibility of reducing weekly working hours in this mode by up to 35 hours. If you want, you could also work up to 40 hours a week for a little more money. Seiler emphasized that anyone who decides on shorter working hours will have to make compromises in terms of a collectively agreed wage increase. The group continues to reject the full wage compensation demanded by the GDL.
“How alien and distant from the employer does the human resources director have to be to offer a part-time model that is financed by the employee himself?” criticized GDL boss Claus Weselsky.
The fact that the railway recently filed a lawsuit against the GDL before the state labor court in Hesse is unlikely to have helped to defuse the conflict – even if it only marginally concerns the specific collective bargaining issues. Rather, the railway wants to take action against the Fairtrain cooperative, which the GDL founded in the summer.
According to 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 collective bargaining ability of the GDL, which from the company’s perspective now acts as both an employer and a union.
The legal dispute only marginally concerns specific questions from the collective bargaining dispute. But it could have an impact on a future collective bargaining agreement that Deutsche Bahn continues to strive for with the GDL.
Note: This article has been updated.
