Even in the second instance, the company does not get the right, the strike of the train drivers’ union GDL is legally permissible. Their boss, Weselsky, calls on the federal government to bring the company “to reason”.
In the dispute between Deutsche Bahn and the union of German train drivers (GDL), the Hessian state labor court decided that the strike is lawful and may continue. This means that the railway has failed in the second instance to take legal action against the train drivers’ strike.
With an injunction, the company wanted to ensure that the labor dispute, which had been declared until Tuesday, should have been broken off. It argued that the GDL had called for illegal strike targets; In addition, the train drivers carried out an illegal support strike for other rail workers. In the first instance, however, the Frankfurt Labor Court found the union’s demands to be legitimate on Thursday. The railway appealed against this. The GDL continued the strike on Friday.
And this will continue to be done, said GDL boss Claus Weselsky in an initial reaction. “We are not going to end the labor dispute prematurely,” they say, they do not let them dictate how long they strike. Weselsky said that now the federal government must “bring the top management to their senses” – the railway belongs to the federal government.
The nationwide strike by train drivers in passenger traffic began on Thursday at two o’clock. With the strike scheduled for more than five days in the current collective bargaining round at Deutsche Bahn, the GDL wants to emphasize its demands for a total of 3.2 percent more money over a period of 28 months and a corona premium of 600 euros.
The parties argued in particular about a clause with which the GDL wants to enforce its collective agreements for members who work in companies in which the competing union EVG is actually in the majority. According to the court, this clause should be empty, but it does not make the entire strike call ineffective. The labor judges also checked whether the train drivers are conducting an illegal support strike for the other railway workers.