The rail strike is approaching: Weselsky ignites escalation level out of self-interest


The railway is about to go on strike. The GDL and its boss Claus Weselsky ignite the next level of escalation in the power struggle with the rival union EVG.

The locomotive drivers’ union GDL is ready to strike. The result of the strike vote will be announced today – and there is no doubt that the members voted with a large majority in favor of a labor dispute at Deutsche Bahn. The company and everyone who depends on the railways have to be prepared for constant stress. GDL boss Claus Weselsky has the means to paralyze the railway across the board. And he has absolutely no problem using them.

And that while Germany is slowly recovering from the consequences of the Corona crisis and is finally finally returning to something like normalcy. Apparently Weselsky and the GDL don’t care at all. Because in a conflict they are not primarily concerned with collective bargaining results. Their primary concern is to increase their own influence in the group and to steal as many members as possible from the much larger rail and transport union EVG. And that’s why Weselsky quickly escalates to the maximum.

What doesn’t change that: The GDL is free to strike. It is absolutely right that trade unions have this powerful weapon to counter employers. But they have to use them with care and caution. That is exactly what the GDL does not do.

Weselsky seems determined to fight the power struggle he wanted on the back of all rail customers and to shut down passenger and freight traffic as much as possible if necessary. That is his right. However, it is not appropriate.

Weselsky needs the strike

The background to the GDL riot is the law on collective bargaining, which is intended to prevent trade unions from overbidding and the division of a workforce. It stipulates that in a company the collective agreement with the union that has the most members among the employees applies. The railway must apply the law in companies in which both the GDL and the EVG represent the same professional groups. According to the railway, this is the case in 71 out of 300 companies in the group. The EVG has the majority in 55 companies and the GDL in 16.

The group has already signed a collective restructuring agreement with EVG that runs until February 2023. Not surprisingly, the agreements are not enough for the GDL. It wants to force more concessions so that it becomes more attractive for railway employees and hopes to become the larger union in other railway companies and then to be able to use the collective bargaining law to its own advantage. For a long time the GDL has tried to poach members of the EVG with campaigns and accuses them of representing the interests of the employees far too weakly.

And that is precisely why a strike is desirable from the GDL’s point of view. So CDU member Weselsky can stage himself as a fighter against the establishment – which, from the GDL’s point of view, includes not only the railway board, but also the EVG.

It is of little help that the railway gives the GDL a guarantee of existence and has proposed that in future the collective agreements of the two unions will be used side by side in one company. The GDL tariff would then apply to a GDL member and the EVG tariff would apply to an EVG member. Unorganized people can choose between one of the two collective bargaining systems. The GDL rejects that.

GDL complains about “fake news”

In the meantime, Weselsky Bahn personnel director Martin Seiler calls it a “baron of lies” who spreads “fake news” and presents a sham offer full of “false claims”. The GDL had previously declared the tariff talks to have failed. She does not want to return to the negotiating table for the time being, although Deutsche Bahn has improved its offers. The GDL prepared the strike rhetorically and actually can’t go back – and doesn’t want to.

The collective bargaining positions of the group and the union are not far apart and should be resolved through arbitration. But the union organized in the German Association of Officials strictly rejects this as well.

A strike at the railway is completely unnecessary at this point. The fact that this happens anyway is due to the ego trip of a power-conscious functionary who wants to score points in the internal trade union dispute he has started.

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