Arbitration begins July 17
Bahn and EVG agree on a summer without a strike
07/05/2023, 7:25 p.m
Vacationers can go on summer vacation without worrying about strikes. In their tough collective bargaining dispute, the EVG union and the railways set a timetable for arbitration that allows new industrial action to take place at the end of August at the earliest.
In the collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Bahn, both sides have agreed on a schedule for the agreed arbitration process. This is scheduled to begin on July 17 and is initially scheduled to last until July 31. The state-owned group and the railway and transport union (EVG) announced this in the afternoon. The employment lawyer and former state politician Heide Pfarr from the SPD and the former Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière from the CDU are to mediate as mediators. “Before and during the arbitration, the peace obligation applies,” it said. Further warning strikes are therefore not possible in this phase.
After the arbitration, the EVG members at the railways will decide whether to accept or reject the arbitration recommendation by ballot. According to union information, the vote should last around four weeks until the end of August. “The EVG has promised that it will not carry out any strikes during the ballot that follows,” said the union. In the event of a negative vote, indefinite strikes are possible.
In principle, both sides had already agreed on the arbitration last week. Collective bargaining had previously failed. The EVG then announced the ballot. However, the union canceled plans for another warning strike this week after Deutsche Bahn’s arbitration proposal.
Pfarr and de Maizière appointed as arbitrators
Heide Pfarr, who was appointed by the EVG to act as mediator, was for many years the director of the union-related Institute for Economic and Social Sciences in Düsseldorf and was also a member of the management board of the Hans Böckler Foundation. In addition, the 78-year-old was a senator for the SPD in Berlin for a few months and was Minister of Labor in Hesse for a short time in the early 1990s.
Thomas de Maizière was Minister of the Interior and Minister of Defense under former Chancellor Angela Merkel. Before that, he held several ministerial posts in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony. Most recently, the 69-year-old CDU politician appeared as President of the Evangelical Church Congress in 2023.
Length of term is the sticking point
The union and the company have been fighting for higher wages for around 180,000 employees since February. The EVG had also negotiated with 50 other railway companies, with some there are already wage agreements. The EVG has already twice called for warning strikes in the current wage dispute. She demands 650 euros more per month for the railway workers. According to the union, the term of the collective agreement should be twelve months. In addition, some structural adjustments in the complex collective bargaining system at DB were required.
Deutsche Bahn was recently willing to pay employees 200 euros more from December, and then another 200 euros more from August. In addition, the group promised an inflation compensation premium of 2,850 euros. The term of the collective agreement should be 27 months. The union rejected this package, especially the long term is considered a crucial problem on the way to a solution.