Restrictions still possible
Train drivers have ended their strike early
January 29, 2024, 6:45 a.m
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The GDL strike, which lasted several days, is over, but train services will not be back to normal everywhere on Monday morning. Tickets can also be used at a later date. For now, rail drivers don’t have to worry about further work stoppages.
The GDL train drivers’ union has prematurely ended its multi-day strike on Deutsche Bahn passenger transport. A DB spokesman announced this early on Monday morning. From the start of operations, the railway wants to use the normal timetable again. “However, there will still be isolated restrictions on long-distance transport services over the course of Monday,” it said. “There may also be regionally different restrictions in regional traffic during the course of Monday,” warned the company.
Since the passenger transport strike began on Wednesday morning, the railway has been working with a significantly reduced timetable. In long-distance transport, around 20 percent of the usual offering was on the move. With the emergency timetable, the railway also wanted to enable operations to start as smoothly as possible after the strike. In freight transport, the strike ended on Sunday evening.
The strike was actually supposed to last until Monday evening at 6 p.m. in both passenger and freight traffic. However, on Saturday night, the railway and the GDL agreed on an early end and new negotiations from February 5th. These should be held behind closed doors. Both sides stated that the goal was to reach a collective bargaining agreement at the beginning of March. A peace obligation applies up to and including March 3rd – so strikes are currently not an issue.
Agreement so far on inflation compensation premium
During the upcoming negotiations, models for reducing working hours will be discussed, among other things. The railway has also agreed to talk about a fixed fee increase. Until now, the federally owned company had always spoken out in favor of percentage increases. Fixed amounts generally help lower income groups in particular and are therefore often preferred by unions to negotiate. The payment of a 1,500 euro inflation compensation bonus in March has already been firmly agreed. This payment is tax- and duty-free for the employees, so gross is equal to net.
The collective bargaining conflict between the railways and the GDL began at the beginning of November. The union entered into negotiations demanding three hours less weekly working time for shift workers with the same wages. She also wanted to achieve 555 euros more in wages for a twelve-month term of the collective agreement.
The current offer from Deutsche Bahn provides 4.8 percent more money for employees from August and a further 5 percent more from April 2025. According to this offer, from January 2026, train drivers and train attendants can then decide between a further pay increase of 2.7 percent or one hour less work per week.