As of: February 29, 2024, 5:01 p.m
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
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Claus Weselsky (left) is the federal chairman of the German Locomotive Drivers' Union (GDL).
© IMAGO / Michael Weber
The negotiations between the train drivers' union GDL and Deutsche Bahn have failed again.
There is a threat of further strikes.
Berlin – According to a media report, there is a risk of new strikes in the collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Bahn.
The train drivers' union GDL has declared negotiations with Deutsche Bahn to have failed,
Bild
reported on Thursday.
Deutsche Bahn and GDL: Negotiations failed again
Negotiations were actually supposed to take place until March 3rd and there was a peace obligation.
There was recently no official information about the progress of the talks, which have been ongoing since the beginning of February.
But now the negotiations have probably failed prematurely again.
The reason for the failure was the union's demand for a 35-hour week with full wage compensation, as the
Bild
report shows.
From the GDL's point of view, the railway did not move sufficiently here, so the negotiations were ended.
The railway is outraged by the GDL's behavior: "We were prepared to take steps to reduce working hours that went far beyond our last offer," said DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler in a statement.
“It is unbelievable that the train drivers' union is still standing up from the table and thus threatening further strikes for customers.
In the last four weeks, the train drivers' union has not moved a single millimeter.
However, there can be no solution to a conflict without compromise.
We have pushed ourselves to the absolute limit of what is possible financially and in terms of personnel.
Demographics and a shortage of skilled workers don’t allow for more, otherwise trains will stop.”
There were warning strikes at the railway at the beginning of the year
There were several warning strikes by the GDL at the beginning of the year.
At the beginning of February, however, they were able to agree on further negotiations with Deutsche Bahn, including a peace obligation.
At that time, the payment of the first part of an inflation compensation bonus of 1,500 euros from March was already agreed.
This sum is part of the 2,800 euros that the company had already offered.
Discussions were also agreed on working hours, a central point of contention in the collective bargaining dispute.
The GDL had energetically called for a reduction in weekly working hours from 38 to 35 hours from 2028 with full wage compensation.
The railway initially categorically rejected this, but later provided an election model.
This model would allow train drivers to reduce their weekly working hours to 37 hours, but in return they would have to forego an additional pay increase offered.
With regard to the salary issue, the railway had previously offered a wage increase of up to 13 percent.
However, the GDL rejects this as not enough.
With material from Reuters and dpa