Tuesday, May 25, 2021
GDL threatens strikes
Train drivers give ultimatum to Deutsche Bahn
The collective bargaining between Deutsche Bahn and the train drivers’ union GDL threatens to fail in the third round. The GDL has rejected a current offer and is threatening strikes if the railway does not improve its offer significantly. Which, in turn, reacts angrily.
The union of German locomotive drivers (GDL) has rejected an offer from the group in the wage dispute with Deutsche Bahn (DB). “Touching up – that is the core message of the GDL”, and that is what it has conveyed to DB. The union is aware of its responsibility for the rail system, which is why it has “proposed solutions”.
According to the GDL, these proposed solutions included a wage increase equal to the level of the public service, better pay for trainees, the retention of the collective agreement on supplementary company benefits as well as offsetting travel times to work sites and washing and changing times against working hours. The agreement of the DB with the railway and transport union (EVG), which is in competition with the GDL, is “no basis for a negotiation”.
The GDL gave DB until June 7th to “put a negotiable offer on the table”. On this day, the main board and the federal tariff commission should meet to discuss how the GDL should proceed. If the DB did not submit an improved offer, the negotiations threatened to fail and the committees of the trade unions would decide on “industrial action”, the GDL announced.
Deutsche Bahn massively criticizes the GDL’s schedule
A spokeswoman for the railway said late on Monday evening that the GDL had made an offer “that continues to go beyond the economic framework, ignores the corona damage and continues to be shaped by organizational political self-interests in the massive expansion of the GDL”. The next negotiation date proposed by the GDL in 14 days is “completely incomprehensible” in view of the current situation. Both collective bargaining partners are required “without further hesitation” to “negotiate solutions directly at the collective bargaining table”.
Bahn and GDL negotiated in the third round on Monday last week. GDL boss Claus Weselsky called the offer made by the group of a wage increase of 1.5 percent a “naked provocation”. He threatened labor disputes and had already indicated that the probability with which the union would accept the offer of the railway was zero.
The GDL is in competition with the EVG, with whom the railway reached an agreement last September. This included a wage increase of 1.5 percent since January, protection against dismissal until 2023 and a promise of 18,000 new hires annually in 2021 and 2022.
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