In the collective bargaining dispute with the EVG union, Deutsche Bahn has described the minimum wage requirements as having been met and is demanding that the strike be abandoned. The EVG negotiator, on the other hand, speaks of a “sham offer”.
In the collective bargaining dispute with the railway and transport union (EVG), Deutsche Bahn said it was willing to make concessions. “In intensive talks until late Thursday evening,” the EVG was promised to meet the demand it had made months ago for the statutory minimum wage to be displayed, Deutsche Bahn announced around midnight. “We have met the minimum wage requirement,” said DB HR Director Martin Seiler. Now the EVG has its say. “The EVG must now keep its promise and cancel the 50-hour warning strike,” he demanded.
employer side makes “back down”
EVG negotiator Kristian Loroch told the dpa news agency on request that it was a “bogus offer” by Deutsche Bahn. “In the end, after lengthy discussions, the employer put an option on the table that we considered worthy of discussion. After we started discussing it, he then backed down.”
The previous commitments to set the minimum wage of twelve euros in the pay tables were not enough for the union. According to Loroch, however, talks had already come a long way on Thursday. For example, wage increases should be based on tariffs of around 13 euros and then be permanently anchored. But then the employers decided not to take the final steps after all.
Union set ultimatum
After the warning strike was announced on Thursday, the EVG asked DB to hold talks, as Loroch explained on Friday night. According to the current status, the warning strike will take place. However, the union had given the railways an ultimatum to approach them “and to think about it” during the course of Friday.
The railway and transport union had called on workers on Thursday to go on strike, which should last from 10 p.m. Sunday evening to midnight on Tuesday night. During this time, all ICE and IC trains remained in the depots, the group said. Even in regional transport, “mostly no trains will run during the strike”.
Already the third warning strike
Already at the end of March, the EVG, together with the service union ver.di, had largely paralyzed traffic in Germany. At the end of April, the EVG followed up with an eight-hour warning strike. The union negotiates for around 230,000 workers.
Deutsche Bahn wants to orientate itself towards the end of the public service. In talks with the industry, the union is demanding, among other things, at least 650 euros more per month or twelve percent for upper income earners – for a period of twelve months.
Before that, however, she wants to know that crucial questions about the minimum wage have been clarified in the negotiations with the railways. Around 2,000 employees at DB have so far only received this through allowances because the minimum wage has risen faster than the tariff tables in recent years. The EVG would like to include the statutory minimum wage of twelve euros in the tables before negotiating further tariff increases.
Bahn wants more than twice as long running time
The offer from the state-owned company includes a total of around ten percent more wages for lower and middle incomes, eight percent more money for higher incomes and an additional 2850 euros inflation compensation premium for everyone. When it comes to the term, the group has completely different ideas than EVG. Deutsche Bahn is aiming for a term of 27 months, which is more than twice as long.
The first stage of wage increases in the tables should not take effect until March 2024. By then, the offered inflation compensation should be paid out over several months. Recently, the railways of the EVG accommodated in anchoring the minimum wage in the tariff tables, but the union considers this to be insufficient.