Warning strike averted on the railways

Status: 05/13/2023 6:14 p.m

The planned warning strike on the railways has been averted for the time being. The company and the EVG trade union have agreed to a binding settlement. The railway still expects failures.

At Deutsche Bahn there will be no warning strike in the coming days. Both the railway and transport union (EVG) and Deutsche Bahn announced that they had agreed to a mandatory comparison.

The goal is to finish soon

With the settlement, both sides also agreed, according to the DB, “to negotiate quickly and constructively, with the aim of an early conclusion”. The minimum wage is also part of the comparison. The EVG emphasized that the minimum wage issue the prerequisite for all further negotiation topics.

The labor court in Frankfurt submitted the comparison. The responsible judge had indicated several times that she had doubts about the legality of the announced strike. EVG runs the risk of losing in court if it does not agree to the settlement.

Due to the nationwide strike by the EVG trade union, special ticket rules apply to rail transport.
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Strike stopped only at Deutsche Bahn

The EVG then declared that it would waive the 50-hour walkout planned from Sunday evening to Tuesday night. The union confirmed: “On the advice of the court, the employer and we have therefore made a settlement.”

However, the EVG emphasized that the call for strikes for some railway companies still applies. Only the labor dispute at Deutsche Bahn was canceled. A spokesman also warned: If the railways “break their word, we will call for a strike again”.

Bahn is still going restrictions out of

After the agreement on the settlement, Bahn HR Director Martin Seiler wrote: “Deutsche Bahn’s appeal to the labor court was worth it for everyone”. However, there will be restrictions on long-distance and local trains in the next few days. It is still unclear what the cancellation of the warning strike at Deutsche Bahn means for tickets that have already been exchanged.

Philipp Nagl, head of DB Netz AG, said: “We will do everything we can to offer our customers regular traffic as possible.” The planning for Monday and Tuesday would start immediately. The problem: The railways now have to reschedule around 50,000 train journeys as well as the associated shift and deployment plans.

According to the railway, details are to be announced on Sunday to what extent operations can run regularly. According to Nagl, it is assuming “largely normal operation”.

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.
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Bahn wanted to prevent the strike with an urgent application

Deutsche Bahn had recently tried to reject the strike with an urgent application. The company had argued that the 50-hour warning strike was “disproportionate and harms customers and uninvolved third parties”. In the negotiations with the EVG, “a wage increase of more than 10 percent” was offered. In addition, it “fulfilled the central prerequisite of the EVG and moved towards the EVG several times”.

Sticking point minimum wage

According to the union, it was primarily about the condition based on a statutory minimum wage to achieve subsequent wage increases. The statutory minimum wage has so far only been paid to around 2,000 employees in the form of allowances. Initially, Deutsche Bahn did not want to meet any preconditions before the actual negotiations. In the meantime, however, she has agreed to include the minimum wage in the tariff tables in advance.

For the union, this point is crucial – they want to strengthen employees with low wages disproportionately with a view to inflation. In addition, it should also aim to attract new members in these wage groups or these sectors through its commitment.

Bahn wants almost twice as long running time

The fact that the lower wage groups are to be strengthened disproportionately is also shown by the main demand made of the industry, which focuses on a high fixed amount: the union wants to achieve 650 euros more per month for employees at the 50 railway companies, only at the She asks for percentages on top incomes, specifically 12 percent. According to the union, the term should be 12 months.

Deutsche Bahn has recently promised tax- and duty-free one-off payments totaling 2850 euros and gradual increases of 10 percent for the lower and middle income groups and 8 percent for the upper income groups – all of this over a period of 27 months.

Already third 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 EVG has been negotiating new collective agreements with 50 rail companies since the end of February. From the union’s point of view, the talks with most of these companies are not progressing significantly, including DB. The union negotiates for around 230,000 employees – 180,000 of whom work for Deutsche Bahn.

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