In the collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Bahn, the railway and transport union (EVG) rejected an initial offer from the group. The union will not continue the negotiations in Berlin, which resumed on Tuesday, on Wednesday, she said at noon.
“The EVG sees no basis in the documents submitted by the employer to enter into negotiations,” it said. “The paper that was finally presented to us late Tuesday evening does not deserve the name offer, it offends our colleagues and that is unacceptable.” The talks have been postponed by the EVG until the next official hearing date on April 24th and 25th.
Negotiations for 180,000 employees
Deutsche Bahn (DB) criticized the rejection of the offer as “incomprehensible”. Central demands of the EVG were addressed. The company asked the EVG to “continue the negotiations promptly”. From the point of view of HR Director Martin Seiler, the next agreed date at the end of April is too far away in view of the justified expectations of the employees: “We are always ready to continue the negotiations at an earlier point in time.”
In the negotiations, the EVG is demanding at least 650 euros more wages for 180,000 employees. She wants to achieve an increase of twelve percent in the higher fees over a period of twelve months. In addition, she calls for structural changes in the collective agreements. The railway had rejected the claims as clearly too high. From their point of view, these amount to increases of around 25 percent.
After initial talks at the end of February, both sides continued negotiations in Berlin on Tuesday. The railway had submitted an offer that also included the issue of the minimum wage.
