The railway is facing the longest strike in its history. The GDL union and its boss Claus Weselsky rely on confrontation, not negotiations. It’s slowly enough.
Germany is expecting the next mega-strike by the train drivers’ union GDL. Rail traffic is largely paralyzed again. GDL boss Claus Weselsky continues to escalate again.
This time the GDL members want to strike for six days. That is their right. But they shouldn’t expect understanding for the strike. Because the GDL is not ready to talk about the new railway offer. And so far it is not prepared to back down from its maximum demands. The sector union knows the immense damage it can cause across the country with its strikes. That’s why she uses her power ruthlessly and demands unconditional surrender from the railway board.
Ironically, Weselsky blames the company. He describes their board members as “rivets in pinstripes” and complains about “sham offers.” Weselsky portrays himself as a victim who acts in self-defense. But he is the one who escalates. He accuses the railways of pursuing a “denial and confrontational course” and claims: “There is no trace of any desire for unification.”
The railway has submitted an offer that is quite acceptable. In addition to significant wage increases, it is offering train drivers and train attendants the opportunity to reduce their working hours from 38 to 37 hours with the same salary from 2026. Anyone who decides against the reduction will receive more money instead.
But the GDL doesn’t even want to talk about that. Not only does she demand a larger wage increase than offered. Weselsky wants to force the weekly working time in shift work to be reduced to 35 hours – immediately, with full wage compensation.
It’s about power
The railway does not see itself in a position to meet these demands. Simply because it would then have to hire thousands of new people. This not only costs a lot of money, but is also not feasible due to the lack of skilled workers and workers.
Apart from that the weekly working hours in Germany and also for train drivers on the railway is rather low in European comparison: The new GDL strike impressively shows that Weselsky is not willing to compromise. Before negotiations began, he made it clear that there would be strikes. The railway employees “have already sharpened their knives and want a confrontation. The railway base is boiling.”
This rhetoric is disturbing. In addition, the majority of the railway base is not cooking, but has already concluded a collective agreement with the company through the EVG union – according to the company, the most expensive wage increase in the history of the railway. The GDL is only negotiating for 10,000 of the 220,000 rail employees. The far larger number are organized in the EVG. By the way, that is a crucial reason for Weselsky’s radical strategy. He is fighting for influence for his GDL and therefore definitely wants to outbid the EVG.
Weselsky is retiring next year. In his last collective bargaining dispute, he once again gave everything without consideration. It doesn’t matter to him that at the end of a collective bargaining dispute there should be a fair solution that both sides can live with.