The labour dispute between Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the Union of German Locomotive Drivers (GDL) is going to court. The company claims that the union is unable to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), and thus, is “no longer allowed to strike”. The case is now in the hands of the Hessian State Labour Court.
“We need to know with legal certainty whether we have a collective bargaining partner who is capable of acting”, said DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler. In response, GDL defined DB’s decision to go to court as “absurd legal maneuvers” that will be paid for with taxpayers’ money and that it will not stop it from pursuing the bargaining demands.
A few days before Christmas, GDL stated that its members were largely in favour of starting a strike as of Monday 8 January. According to DB, however, the union’s demands would harm them while favouring Fair Train, a cooperative employing train drivers. This, DB says, constitutes a conflict of interests as “the people involved in GDL and Fair Train are largely the same”. For example, GDL boss Claus Weselsky is also the founder of the cooperative.
GDL’s demands and DB’s counteroffer
The main bone of contention between DB and GDL is that the union wants to reduce weekly working hours from 38 to 35, spread over four days. According to DB, “this means that train drivers will become even more scarce on the labour market and demand from temporary employment agencies will increase”. It needs to be mentioned that GDL said it is open to reducing the hours gradually, starting with 38 in 2025 and reaching 35 by 2028.
The company also highlighted that GDL is asking for a shorter notice period for employees who want to leave the company. According to them, this point is being implemented “so that train drivers can switch to Fair Train more quickly”. Fulfilling these demands, according to DB would translate into a 50 per cent increase in personnel costs.
Other demands mentioned by various German media, including Zeit, revolve around financial conditions. They are asking for a general salary increase of 555 euros and an allowance increase of 25 per cent. Finally, the demands included an inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros for full-time employees and 1,500 for part-time workers. According to Zeit, DB presented a counteroffer which included an 11 per cent wage increase over 32 months and a 2,850 euros compensation for inflation.
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