With a new tariff offer, Deutsche Bahn wanted to bring the train drivers’ union GDL back to the negotiating table. The union is calling for the next strike instead. It starts on Wednesday.
The train drivers’ union GDL has called on Deutsche Bahn employees to go on strike again. This will begin in passenger transport early Wednesday morning at 2 a.m. and last until Monday next week at 6 p.m., the union announced on Monday night. The union members at DB Cargo, which is responsible for freight transport, have been called on strike from Tuesday at 6 p.m. Difficult days lie ahead for commuters, with thousands of train cancellations expected.
It was only on Friday that Deutsche Bahn presented a new tariff offer to bring the GDL back to the negotiating table. This also includes, among other things, an option for one hour less working time for train drivers and train attendants from January 1, 2026. However, this was apparently not enough for new negotiations. “With the third and supposedly improved offer, Deutsche Bahn AG has once again shown that it is undeterred in pursuing its previous course of refusal and confrontation – there is no trace of any desire to reach agreement,” said the GDL statement.
Bahn accuses GDL of acting “absolutely irresponsibly”.
The railway defended its offer to the GDL on Monday morning. “The DB relies on compromises, the GDL is exaggerating the conflict,” said a spokesman. “Anyone who doesn’t even come to the negotiating table with a new offer with up to 13 percent and the possibility of a 37-hour week with the same salary is acting absolutely irresponsibly.”
The now announced industrial action would be the fourth in the ongoing collective bargaining dispute. Before the turn of the year, the GDL paralyzed large parts of passenger traffic in two warning strikes, followed in January by a three-day strike with a similar effect. DB human resources director Martin Seiler criticized on Friday that the GDL strikes were not used as a last resort, but as a means of self-promotion.
The railway’s offer presented on Friday provides 4.8 percent more money for employees from August and a further five percent more from April 2025. In addition, payment of the inflation compensation premium is planned immediately after a possible collective bargaining agreement. According to the DB offer, the term should be 32 months.
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The railway is also offering train drivers and train attendants the opportunity to reduce their working hours from 38 to 37 hours with the same salary from January 1, 2026. According to the offer, anyone who decides against the reduction will instead receive 2.7 percent more money. In total, the employees who stick with their current working hours received 13 percent more gross money with the offer than they do now. The GDL demands 555 euros more per month as well as an inflation compensation bonus for a twelve-month term.
According to public statements, what is much more important to the union is a reduction in working hours for shift workers from 38 to 35 hours per week with full wage compensation. The railway considers the demand to be unfulfillable on this scale, also because too many new staff would then be needed. There is already a shortage of skilled workers among train drivers and other railway professions.
The collective bargaining conflict between the railways and the GDL has been going on since the beginning of November. The GDL declared the talks to have failed after the second round of negotiations. There have been no negotiations since November 24th. After a strike vote among the GDL members, indefinite strikes are also possible.
Source: Stern
