As of: March 6, 2024, 6:01 p.m
By: Amy Walker
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Everything back to square one: The train drivers' union and Deutsche Bahn were unable to agree on a new tariff.
The railway sharply criticizes the GDL.
Berlin - The collective bargaining dispute between the train drivers' union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn is threatening to escalate again.
After four weeks of negotiations, from which not a single peep was heard, the bad news for rail travelers came yesterday (February 29th): the collective bargaining negotiations have failed.
This means it is almost certain that new rail strikes will come.
The railway expressed itself in an angry statement in which it reported on the GDL's unwillingness to compromise.
The GDL accuses the railway of breaching its peacekeeping obligation.
GDL and Bahn continue to argue - press conference on Monday
A railway spokesman explained on Thursday that the GDL had prematurely “cancelled” the negotiations that were scheduled to last until Sunday.
The union accused the railway of having “punctured” internal negotiations to the media, but did not go into detail about the negotiations.
“Despite extensive concessions” and “despite the use of two experienced moderators,” the GDL left the negotiating table, explained the DB spokesman.
Until recently, the trade unionists had “dogmatically insisted on a 35-hour week with full wage compensation”.
The moderators Thomas de Maizière and Daniel Günther “also made compromise suggestions regarding weekly working hours”.
“We were prepared to take steps to reduce working hours that went far beyond our last offer,” explained DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler.
There was now a threat of further strikes.
“In the last four weeks, the train drivers’ union hasn’t moved a single millimeter.” But without compromise there can be no solution.
The GDL explained that the railway had provided information to the
Bild
newspaper “in the usual manner”.
The newspaper published details of the negotiations.
However, the GDL has not spoken to
Bild
“for years” because it reports “always in a tendentious manner and assigns blame in advance”.
Therefore the information could only come from the railway.
Claus Weselsky stands at a rally in front of the main train station in Dresden.
© Robert Michael/dpa
However, the GDL will not comment on the negotiations, the union explained and announced a press conference for next Monday at 11 a.m.
At the beginning of the round of negotiations at the beginning of February, silence was agreed until this Sunday; unlike the railway, the GDL will stick to it.
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Indefinite strikes still possible
Both statements clearly show how deadlocked the situation has become.
The GDL had already received permission for indefinite strikes in a strike vote at the end of last year.
It is impossible to say whether this will actually happen - but the longer the dispute goes on, the more likely such extreme measures become.
The indefinite strike is a union's sharpest weapon - and one that it will only pull out at the very end.
It is therefore not surprising that the day after the news became known, calls for arbitration were loud.
“The load limit for passengers has been reached,” said Detlef Neuß, chairman of the Pro Bahn passenger association, to the
German Press Agency
.
“We are calling for mediation.
An agreement is urgently needed.” The tariff conflict that has been going on for months is unreasonable for passengers and can no longer be negotiated.
“The passengers are not collective bargaining partners, but they suffer the most from the conflict.” Last year, the collective bargaining dispute between the EVG union and the railway could only be ended through arbitration.
With material from AFP and dpa