Train drivers’ union GDL calls for more money and a 35-hour week

Status: 05.06.2023 7:39 p.m

Inflation compensation, shorter working hours, more money: With these demands, the GDL goes into the forthcoming collective bargaining round by train. The train drivers’ union also presented plans for a temporary work agency.

The GDL train drivers’ union is aiming for a significant wage increase and a reduction in working hours for the wage negotiations with Deutsche Bahn, which will begin in the autumn. The core demands include a “general pay increase” of 555 euros, an increase in allowances for shift work by 25 percent and a reduction in the weekly working time from 38 to 35 hours for shift workers without a proportional reduction in wages.

“There needs to be a significant improvement in the material and immaterial working and living conditions of railway workers as soon as possible,” explained union boss Claus Weselsky when presenting the plans for the collective bargaining.

In addition, the GDL wants to push through a tax-free inflation compensation premium of 3,000 euros and a “significant pay increase for trainees”. The term of the collective agreement should be a maximum of twelve months, the union said.

GDL announces cooperative

Another announcement by Weselsky caused a surprise: The GDL had founded a cooperative that wants to act as a leasing company for engine drivers in the medium term. The GDL thus indirectly wants to become an employer itself.

Only GDL members should be able to acquire cooperative shares. Train drivers are then to be hired as employees, who will be loaned out by the cooperative to railway companies. That was a challenge to Deutsche Bahn, said Weselsky. He himself is “outside” in the cooperative, he has only privately subscribed to cooperative shares.

collective bargaining with ECG still running

The demands of the GDL burst in the middle of the ongoing tariff dispute between Deutsche Bahn and the much larger railway and transport union EVG. EVG, which competes with GDL, has been trying since the end of February to negotiate a salary increase of 650 euros per month or twelve percent for the upper wage groups with the railways and dozens of other railway companies.

The state-owned group has so far been willing to pay percentage increases of between eight and twelve percent in two stages, plus an inflation compensation premium of EUR 2,850 in two stages. The Deutsche Bahn plans a term of 24 months – twice as long as the union.

No warning strikes for the time being

In the current week, no warning strikes are to be expected in the current wage conflict. Bahn and EVG want to negotiate a solution again on June 12th. Both sides announced this in the evening after a coordination meeting.

In the tariff dispute with the EVG, the railways had recently rejected further negotiations – now there are talks again.
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Between Bahn and GDL there is still a peace obligation until the end of October. Only then does it go into conflict – and warning strikes are possible.

Deutsche Bahn said it would “check and evaluate” GDL’s demands in due course. A DB spokeswoman said that new collective agreements for around 10,000 DB employees would be negotiated with the union in the fall. The focus is currently on the negotiations on new collective agreements with the EVG, which apply to around 180,000 DB employees.

The last collective bargaining conflict between GDL and Bahn was resolved in September 2021. Tariff increases totaling 3.3 percent and one-off payments were agreed at the time. At that time, the union also managed to conclude collective agreements for employees in workshops and in administration. In this way, she tries to increase her influence in the DB Group, even if the collective agreements are not always applied.

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