He knows what it means to endure the anger of an entire country. The GDL boss has often fought hard and long strikes for the interests of his train drivers in the past. Tabloids insulted Claus Weselsky as “great trainers” or “demon Weselsky”. He found his way to deal with it. As the picture-Zeitung also printed his phone number for complaints, he had the calls forwarded to the then rail boss Rüdiger Grube.
This week Weselsky will strain the nerves of his compatriots again. This Tuesday at 11 a.m., the federal chairman of the train drivers’ union wants to announce what threatens the country after a ballot. It is quite possible that it will be the toughest strike that Deutsche Bahn has seen in a long time. Trains could stay in the depot on a large scale by the end of the week. A strike never fits. But now? In the middle of travel, where the corona situation is currently making travel possible again?
For Weselsky, the matter is clear: it has to be. On the phone, the GDL boss rushes through the tariff dispute with perfect route knowledge. This is again about more wages and better conditions for his people. Especially in view of the high rate of inflation. What Weselsky does not hang on the big bell: This time there is even more at stake. His life’s work.
Germany’s best-known train driver has made the GDL perhaps the most powerful branch union in the country since 2008. She extended her influence from train drivers on the railway to the rest of the train crew. She is currently also trying to address other professional groups. It is quite possible that she will be successful with it. In its own ranks, Weselsky is known as “Robin Hood” in the fight against management. In trade union elections, he always gets 90 to 95 percent approval.
But a law that the railway is currently applying for the first time could massively curtail the influence of his union. It makes life difficult for the smaller of the two major rail unions. In many companies, only the collective agreement with the larger EVG trade union could apply in the future. The influence of the GDL would probably melt away.
At Deutsche Bahn we know that this is one of the main reasons why it becomes dangerous. The dispute has been intensifying internally for months and is also dividing the workforce. Weselsky played his part in this with his sharp choice of words. For him, companies and trade unions are not social partners. They have always been opponents. The strategist Weselsky only begins talks about compromises when the counterpart is weary. Weselsky’s readiness to fight does not originate from the left-wing camp. The 62-year-old is considered a rather conservative member of the CDU.
Well-meaning observers are now also wondering how Weselsky wants to get out of the escalation while saving face. The train wants to meet him. But the law cannot undermine them. In addition, the rival union EVG would have to agree to a compromise. Weselsky no longer has many advocates there. The situation in the group, of all things, in the biggest crisis of Deutsche Bahn after the corona billions in losses, is now acting as it has not for a long time.
The art of the train driver is not driving at all, Weselsky once said. The art is braking. “That you sit the train down so that the passengers don’t get tossed around.” Since 1992, Weselsky himself was no longer in the driver’s cab of a train as a works council and union official. At the railway, the negotiators hope that he has not forgotten the braking maneuvers as a functionary. And Weselsky? He ended the phone call with a sentence that didn’t bode well for the railway: He was sorry. But he now has to take care of the wage dispute – and really step on the gas.