Tuesday, August 24, 2021
Train cancellations and delays
Engine drivers’ strike continues today
The strike of the train drivers’ union GDL continues. “We will continue to offer our stable basic offer on the second day,” says a railway spokeswoman. But the situation should not normalize until Wednesday.
The Union of German Locomotive Drivers (GDL) continues its strike this Tuesday, so Deutsche Bahn passengers have to be prepared for numerous delays and train cancellations. In the morning hours, the railway wants to make current forecasts of how many trains will be canceled, said a DB spokeswoman on Tuesday morning. “We will continue to offer our stable basic offer on the second day as well.”
In long-distance traffic, the railway was able to maintain about 30 percent of the offer on Monday, in regional traffic on average about 40 percent. The strike continues in freight transport as well. At 2 a.m. on Wednesday night, the labor dispute should end. Deutsche Bahn assumes that traffic will then normalize again in the course of the day.
With the strike, the GDL wants to force higher incomes and better working conditions for employees. It is their second strike in this collective bargaining round. Unlike the first strike the week before last, this time passengers had more time to prepare.
The wage dispute is, among other things, about more money for employees. Both sides agree on the level of future wages and salaries: there should be 3.2 percent more. But there is disagreement about the timing of the payout. There are also unanswered questions about the company pension, the amount of a possible corona premium for employees and the GDL’s sphere of influence. After all, the trade union is also concerned with its own influence in the group, which it sees as endangered by the so-called collective bargaining law.
The law provides that in a company with two competing trade unions, only the collective agreements of the employee representatives with a larger number of members apply. In the case of Deutsche Bahn companies, this is usually the larger railway and transport union (EVG).
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