Deutsche Bahn is threatened with a mega strike from Sunday evening. The group now wants to prevent this with an urgent application to the labor court.
- There could be a 50-hour mega strike at Deutsche Bahn from Sunday
- Deutsche Bahn wants to prevent this with an urgent application to the labor court
- The union is sticking to the strike plans
Recent negotiations between employers and unions to suspend the announced warning strike have failed. The railway and transport union EVG keeps to its planned 50 hour warning strike stuck on the rails from Sunday evening. The union announced on Friday. This means that employees are still called upon to stop work from Sunday evening 10 p.m. to Tuesday evening 12 p.m. and thus paralyze rail operations.
Deutsche Bahn is now trying to take legal action against the walkout. The group announced on Saturday morning that it had a corresponding urgent request filed with the labor court in Frankfurt am Main. “This step is now necessary in the interests of customers,” said DB. The urgent application was received, confirmed the court of the German Press Agency. The hearing begins at 12:00 p.m.
The company had already announced on Thursday that in the event of a strike for the period in question, the entire long-distance will be discontinued, the regional trains are also expected to be almost all canceled.
“We were willing to compromise to suspend the announced warning strike and start negotiations. Instead, DB AG prefers to split up and take the passengers hostage,” she said ECG to their decision. The train countered that they had “tried everything up to the last minute”. Strike yet to be averted. “We approached the EVG again and confirmed that the minimum wage would not fail. We want a solution,” said DB HR Director Martin Seiler.
Negotiations on the EVG strike: the parties had actually “approached”
On Thursday evening, both parties were said to have initially come closer. The Deutsche Bahn saw the requirements of the EVG as fulfilled. The EVG must now cancel the strike, said DB HR Director Martin Seiler late Thursday evening.
Die ECG apparently saw it differently. “We brought the train to talks. But when the key to the solution was already on the table, she backed down,” said EVG negotiator Kristian Loroch. He called the Deutsche Bahn proposal a “bogus offer”. With the nationwide warning strike, the union wants to increase the pressure on employers in the ongoing wage conflict with Deutsche Bahn and 50 other railway companies.
EVG dispute with Deutsche Bahn: “Employers leave us no other choice”
“Since little is happening at the negotiating tables, there will be another strike,” he said EVG collective bargaining officer Cosima Ingenschay on Thursday with. “We are on strike for a total of 50 hours and are thus increasing the pressure significantly because the employers leave us no other choice,” said negotiator Kristian Loroch.
Deutsche Bahn has it Strike sharply criticized. “This insane strike is completely unreasonable and completely exaggerated,” said HR director Seiler on Thursday. Instead of looking for compromises, the EVG wanted to “paralyze the country for an unbelievable 50 hours”. This is a full strike without ballot and millions of travelers are affected. The railway took action and announced that it would completely stop long-distance traffic for the duration of the strike.
Deutsche Bahn: Union wants at least 650 euros more
Collective bargaining in the rail sector has been going on since the end of February. It is the third nationwide warning strike to which the ECG has been calling ever since. In March, together with the Verdi services union, she paralyzed large parts of public transport, including most airports, for a day. The second break in April was limited to a period of eight hours, but also caused many failures, especially in long-distance traffic. However, feared additional traffic jams did not materialize on the motorways.
Die labor union wants to get at least 650 euros more per month for the employees in the negotiations or twelve percent for the upper income earners, over a period of twelve months. Deutsche Bahn, on the other hand, wants to be guided by the conclusion of the public service, which was achieved at the end of April.
Also interesting: Deutsche Bahn: Will there soon be more money for delays?
Train strike: Employer offer has not been convincing so far
Based on this, the state-owned group initially has a tax and duty-free system inflation compensation proposed in several stages of a total of 2850 euros. In addition, wages and salaries are to be gradually increased from March 2024 – by a total of ten percent for the lower and middle wage groups and by eight percent for the upper wage groups. 180,000 of the 230,000 employees for whom the EVG is currently negotiating work at DB.
A crucial sticking point in the negotiations was the statutory minimum wage: Around 2,000 employees are currently receiving this at the DB only about allowances. The EVG first wants to anchor the minimum wage of twelve euros in the salary table before negotiations on tariff increases. Any negotiation results would then be offset against these twelve euros. This week, the union rejected a suggestion by Deutsche Bahn that the 12 euros should be included in the tables retrospectively from March of this year.
“We opened the doors wide, but the electronic ballast stays in front of the door,” explained DB-Personalvorstand roper. “She absolutely does not want to negotiate and instead wants to enforce a tariff dictate.”
Affected travelers said the train extensive goodwill regulations to. The company also wants to provide information about the effects of the strike as quickly and comprehensively as possible. (lro/mja/dpa)
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