Saturday September 11th 2021
“Collective agreement is overdue”
Bahn submits a new offer to GDL
The GDL threatens to prepare for the next strike on Monday if the railway does not submit a “negotiable offer” by then. The latter is now taking a step towards the train drivers’ union with a pay component. Further “sustainable solutions” should be on the table.
Deutsche Bahn has presented the train drivers’ union GDL with an improved offer and wants to prevent a fourth strike. In addition to the required wage increase of 3.2 percent and a corona bonus for 2021, the railway is offering an additional remuneration component, the group announced. He also agreed to review the scope of the GDL tariff regulations in today’s GDL majority companies. In addition, Deutsche Bahn agreed to receive unrestricted entitlements from the previous pension system until the end of 2020.
“A collective agreement with the GDL is overdue,” said DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler. He urged the union to return to collective bargaining and come to an end quickly. “There are viable solutions on the table.”
The GDL ended its third and so far longest strike in this collective bargaining round on Tuesday and declared that it did not want to strike again for the time being. Last week, shortly before the start of the strike, Deutsche Bahn tried to prevent the labor dispute with a new offer. After the GDL had refused, the railway wanted to have the recusal prohibited by a court as disproportionate. With that, however, she failed.
“GDL is fighting for the pioneering position in a large company”
After the strikes, employers see a need for legal reform. Employer President Rainer Dulger said the strike had little to do with implementing wage demands. That is obvious. “The GDL is fighting for the pioneering position in a large company and is paralyzing the whole country. For me, this shows that there is a need for the legislature here.”
Dulger went on to say: “Especially in the area of infrastructure, the state should think more sensitively about how to organize cooling phases. This is where the damage caused by a strike is particularly great and takes a particularly large number of bystanders hostage. Of course, I accept that it is industrial disputes can arise, but industrial action without rules does not fit into the social market economy of the 21st century. ”
Dulger made it clear that he did not want any further tightening of the tariff unit law. The train drivers’ union GDL sees itself in fierce competition with the larger railway and transport union EVG. According to the unified collective bargaining law passed in 2015, only the collective agreement of the larger employee representation should apply to two unions in one company. This principle is called “one company – one collective agreement”. In the majority of the 300 or so railway operations, this is the EVG from the perspective of the railway.
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