Strike could be imminent
Union rejects the railway’s tariff offer
03/15/2023 11:52 am
The EVG is “snubbed” by Deutsche Bahn’s first tariff offer and rejects it. She finds this “incomprehensible”. Germany is threatened with a strike by the railway workers. The next official hearing is scheduled for more than a month.
In the collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Bahn, the railway and transport union (EVG) rejected an initial offer from the group. The union will not continue the negotiations in Berlin, which resumed on Tuesday, on Wednesday, she said at noon. “The EVG sees no basis in the documents submitted by the employer to enter into negotiations,” it said. “The paper that was finally presented to us late Tuesday evening does not deserve the name offer, it offends our colleagues and that is unacceptable.” The EVG had postponed the talks until the next official hearing on April 24th and 25th.
Collective bargaining officer Cosima Ingenschay had previously emphasized that the workforce was ready for warning strikes. However, she did not give any specific timetables. The EVG and the Verdi services union probably want to paralyze traffic in Germany for half a day on March 27th.
Deutsche Bahn (DB) criticized the rejection of the offer as “incomprehensible”. Central demands of the EVG had been addressed. The company asked the EVG to “continue the negotiations promptly”. From the point of view of HR Director Martin Seiler, the next agreed date at the end of April is too far away in view of the justified expectations of the employees: “We are always ready to continue the negotiations at an earlier point in time.”
In the negotiations, the EVG is demanding at least 650 euros more wages for 180,000 employees. She wants to achieve an increase of twelve percent in the higher fees – with a term of twelve months. In addition, she calls for structural changes in the collective agreements. The railway had rejected the claims as clearly too high. From their point of view, these amount to increases of around 25 percent. After initial talks at the end of February, both sides continued negotiations in Berlin on Tuesday. The railway had submitted an offer that also included the issue of the minimum wage.