Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Lawsuit because of the Unified Collective Bargaining Act
GDL fails before labor court
Last week, Bahn and GDL settled the tariff dispute. Because two unions are competing in the company, the new contract does not apply everywhere. With a lawsuit against it, the train drivers’ union remains unsuccessful.
The train drivers’ union GDL failed with its action against the collective bargaining unit at Deutsche Bahn before the labor court in Berlin. The court dismissed an action brought by the GDL against the railway employers’ association. The union wanted to get the association to influence companies in the railways so that they continue to apply collective agreements concluded by the GDL to their members.
Since the beginning of the year, the Unified Tariff Act (TEG) has also been in force at Deutsche Bahn, which aims to avoid tariff collisions. The law stipulates that if there are two unions in one company, only the collective bargaining rules of the larger employee representatives will be applied. At Deutsche Bahn, the GDL competes with the larger railway and transport union (EVG) for members. The law has been in place since 2015.
Until the end of last year, however, a basic collective bargaining agreement with the railway regulated that the collective agreements of the GDL were also applied. But this contract has expired. This is why the TEG has been in effect in around 300 companies in the group since this year. The union had sued against this. The regulation is unconstitutional and contrary to European law, and the prerequisites for application are not met. The court contradicted this: The law was not unconstitutional, accordingly the companies of the railway based correctly on this regulation.
Majority relationships mostly unclear
According to the railway, the GDL only has a majority of the members in 16 companies. In 71 companies, the majority ratios between GDL and EVG are therefore unclear. A notarial procedure should soon clarify this. Bahn and GDL had agreed on this in the collective bargaining negotiations that ended last week. The union stuck to the lawsuit. It was directed against the employers’ and business association of mobility and transport service providers (AGV MOVE), in which Deutsche Bahn is organized.
“The collective bargaining law works and works,” said the general manager of the association, Florian Weh. “This is shown by the most recent collective agreement with the GDL. It is now important not to question this framework and to look ahead.” The GDL did not initially comment.