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Exclusive: Heavy criticism of the rail union EVG at the GDL: Disturbing operational peace "right into the break rooms"

2021-08-22T08:04:31.703Z


Before the strike in the rail passenger traffic, the head of the largest rail union EVG, Klaus-Dieter Hommel, painted a surprisingly gloomy picture of the economic prospects of the state-owned company.


Before the strike in the rail passenger traffic, the head of the largest rail union EVG, Klaus-Dieter Hommel, painted a surprisingly gloomy picture of the economic prospects of the state-owned company.

Munich -

The chairman of the railway and transport union (EVG), Klaus-Dieter Hommel, has strongly criticized the behavior of the train drivers' union GDL in the wage dispute with the railway. The significantly smaller GDL in the labor dispute with the railway is less about higher wages and pension schemes for the employees, but "apparently much more about expanding their organizational area and survival," said EVG boss Hommel in an interview with

Merkur.de

.

At the same time, Hommel accused the GDL of disrupting the operational peace on the railway "right down to the break rooms" with its aggressive approach to recruiting members.

In view of countless complaints from railway employees about the GDL, the EVG has now set up a hotline.

There, "many colleagues reported on incidents that were sometimes unbearable, from massive insults to death threats," said Hommel.

With a view to the economic development of Deutsche Bahn AG, Hommel, who is also the deputy chairman of the supervisory board of the state-owned company, was surprisingly cautious.

Merkur.de

spoke to the battle-hardened trade unionist about the fear of the CDU / CSU and SPD of an escalation of the collective bargaining conflict at Deutsche Bahn, the EVG's willingness to strike and the question of when Deutsche Bahn could finally leave the Corona * crisis behind.

Mr Hommel, the GDL is increasing the pressure in the wage dispute with the railways and is announcing further strikes from Saturday.

Do you think this escalation is appropriate?

Of course, the GDL can make these demands.

That’s totally ok.

However, I do not consider the implementation of these demands to be appropriate.

In this context, the question is more whether the GDL is really only concerned with salaries and pensions.

The Deutsche Bahn's HR director, Martin Seiler, once again signaled his willingness to compromise on Friday.

Or whether completely different considerations play a role in the background at the GDL.

Namely?

For the GDL it is clearly a matter of expanding its organizational area and ultimately survival.

We have around 184,000 members.

The GDL has less than 10,000 active members at DB AG.

It hardly becomes a determining factor for the railways.

Of course, the GDL is able to strike, but beyond collective bargaining, its influence is very limited.

There are indications from Berlin that the collective bargaining conflict at the railway, including strikes before the federal election, is seen only very reluctantly by the CDU / CSU and SPD.

Does that increase the prospects of the GDL for a comparatively high degree?

In order to come to a conclusion, Mr. Weselsky apparently also hopes that politics will influence the railways.

But I can only warn politicians here not to interfere in collective bargaining issues.

That will definitely not be possible with us.

Deutsche Bahn: EVG boss keeps termination of the current collective agreement open

You have now agreed on a special right of termination with Deutsche Bahn.

In essence, it guarantees the EVG the right to terminate existing collective agreements if a competing union has negotiated significantly better conditions for its employees.

Should the GDL agree on a high degree with the railway: Will you then pull the revision clause?

We have to see that.

The negotiations between the railway and the GDL are still ongoing.

As soon as the deal is available, we will compare the corresponding total volume, including intangible components such as protection against dismissal, with our deal.

Then we will decide how to deal with the issue of special termination rights.

From what deviation would you ask Deutsche Bahn to renegotiate?

It's too early for that.

But one thing is clear: we will not allow our colleagues to be disadvantaged.

In the meantime, the collective bargaining conflict is also spreading to railway employees.

How dangerous is this development for operational peace on the railways?

A collective bargaining dispute is usually resolved in solidarity with all differences between the individual unions. This does not necessarily mean that a union will go on strike with another union that is in sluggish collective bargaining. But the members are generally calm and sensible. The case is different with the GDL. In November, the GDL made the world happy with the statement that in future it will be there for the entire railway. That was the beginning of an unusually aggressive recruiting process. This pace has put a heavy strain on the peace of the company to this day - right into the break rooms. We have now received so many complaints that we have set up a hotline.Many colleagues report there every day and report to us on incidents, some of which are unbearable, from massive insults to death threats.

Deutsche Bahn: EVG boss expects the state-owned company to lose more billions

Like many other companies, the corona pandemic has also hit the railways hard.

Last year, the bottom line was a loss of 5.7 billion euros.

In the first half of 2021, 1.4 billion lousies have already accumulated.

When will the railway be back at pre-Corona level: next year?  

It will take longer.

Just think about the corona pandemic.

The virus will probably be with us longer than initially thought.

Then there are the consequences of the most recent flood disaster.

All of this is likely to delay the economic recovery considerably.

Against this background, all run-up curves that were the basis for medium-term planning are also wasted.

This means?

I hope for the company, but above all for the employees, that the record loss from last year with a loss of 5.7 billion euros will not be exceeded.

But it is already clear that we will have to prepare for another billion-dollar loss this year.

When is the pre-corona level realistic?

I assume that the railway will need at least another five years to get back to the level of 2019.

But even that will only be possible if the company uses the time to develop new, customer-friendly business models that are not available today.

Think, for example, of the topic of home office.

The rail board has to find solutions for this, otherwise the trains will no longer be full.

When will operations be in the black again?

That will take several years.

More precise statements on this would be negligent at this point in time.

* Merkur.de

is part of IPPEN.MEDIA.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-08-22

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