Railway: “Absolutely unnecessary”
GDL is calling for a warning strike from Thursday evening
December 6th, 2023, 6:05 p.m
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Train passengers are facing the next warning strike by train drivers. From Thursday evening, almost all trains in Germany will be at a standstill. The strike is expected to last one day. It is the fourth strike this year.
The German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) has called on its members to stage another warning strike at Deutsche Bahn. From Thursday evening, 10 p.m., to Friday evening, 10 p.m., passengers will once again have to prepare for thousands of train cancellations in nationwide rail traffic. All employees in the areas of long-distance transport and regional transport, as well as the employees of the S-Bahn in Berlin and Hamburg, have been called on strike, as the GDL announced in the evening. According to the announcement, the strike in freight transport is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday evening. “The employers are stonewalling everywhere and are not prepared to give the employees the appreciation and recognition they deserve for the work they have done,” said the GDL, justifying the strike.
Deutsche Bahn reacted with sharp criticism. “The train drivers’ union is spoiling the second weekend of Advent for millions of uninvolved people. A strike so soon after the onset of winter and so shortly before the timetable change is irresponsible and selfish,” said railway personnel director Martin Seiler in the evening. “Instead of negotiating and facing reality, the train drivers’ union is striking for demands that cannot be met. This is absolutely unnecessary.”
Among other things, the union wants to emphasize the demand for a reduction in working hours for shift workers. GDL boss Claus Weselsky declared the collective bargaining negotiations to have failed on November 24th because, among other things, the railway had not yet signaled any room for maneuver on this point. The last time the GDL went on strike at the railway was on November 15th and 16th. During this 20-hour work stoppage, a good 80 percent of the long-distance trips that were actually planned were canceled. In regional transport, the effects were even more pronounced in some federal states; in some regions there were at times virtually no trains and hardly any S-Bahn.
With the renewed call for a warning strike, the GDL is apparently ignoring the call from the Civil Service Association (dbb) to coordinate negotiations for public sector employees in the federal states. “It would be absurd if our actions were torpedoed by strikes by our own member organization,” Ulrich Silberbach, chairman of the German Civil Service Association (dbb), recently told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”. The public service negotiations are scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Potsdam. The GDL is a member of the dbb.
Already the fourth rail strike of the year
The tariff dispute between the GDL and the railways escalated violently in a very short time. With the warning strike that has now been called, the GDL remains on a confrontational course, as announced. There were only 15 days between the start of negotiations and the failure of the talks – in between there was already a warning strike, and the union also initiated a strike vote on indefinite strikes. For the new collective agreement, the GDL is demanding, among other things, a reduction in weekly working hours from 38 to 35 hours with the same wages.
DB Human Resources Director Seiler believes the requirement cannot be implemented and argues that implementation would be too expensive. In addition, with fewer weekly working hours, more employees are needed – but these cannot be found in times of skilled labor shortages. GDL boss Weselsky, on the other hand, assumes that jobs at the railway will become more attractive with fewer weekly working hours. In addition, the GDL wants to expand its influence on the railways and conclude collective agreements for areas of work in which it has not yet had any collective agreements. Specifically, it is primarily about infrastructure companies. Seiler does not believe such contracts are necessary because the GDL is not significantly represented in these areas.
The now announced warning strike would be the fourth industrial action at Deutsche Bahn this year. In March and April, the railway and transport union EVG went on strike for one day each, bringing all long-distance traffic to a standstill twice. Even in regional transport, next to nothing happened nationwide on these warning strike days.