Railway workers unions argue further – Badische Zeitung

Railway workers unions argue further – Badische Zeitung

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19th August 2014 00:00 clock

Ice Age

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Ice Age in GDL and ECG: The two rail unions go separate ways continue in collective bargaining with Deutsche Bahn. It threatens a hard clashes

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FRANKFURT / BERLIN The train drivers’ union GDL does not want to submit to a large extent the larger railway union (ECG) as it provided for a compromise proposed by the employer. In the beginning this Wednesday wage round is now threatening a real battle.

The reason for the renewed conflict dates back to 2007. At that time the GDL erstreikte a separate collective agreement for the approximately 20,000 train drivers at the track. At the same time a division of labor between the two unions negotiated. The GDL was responsible for the train driver, the TOE for about 150,000 other public employees of the Group in recent years. However, this agreement expired at the end of June.

GDL union wants not only for drivers negotiate

Now the GDL will also negotiate for the remaining crew members, for example, the conductor or the staff in the bistros, tariffs . The TOE answered promptly with the announcement of a counter-offensive and now wants to fight for higher wages for the drivers.
In the worst case, the employers now threatens permanently, they must negotiate a collective agreement with each union. “Two different collective agreements with potentially different rules, for example, to shift schedules, we absolutely want to avoid,” says DB executive Ulrich Weber. “Instead of negotiating on par with fair rules of the game, the balance of power among unions at the center – that is not our understanding of social partnership”, he criticized. “What we have seen today is an unprecedented step backwards.” The manager threw the GDL before, to have brought about a turnaround failure.

The TOE pulls in concert with employers. The GDL hold on to their goal of a tariff competition, criticized union chief Alexander Kirchner. The TOE issue in the contrast of the GDL for the welfare of all employees, not just individual professional groups. The train drivers’ union insists on its right to conclude collective agreements themselves.

The situation is therefore proceed. The web has encountered with their compromise proposal on deaf ears. It stipulated that in the individual occupational groups most represented in each union takes over the negotiations with the collective bargaining rounds, but the smaller one sits at the table and can influence. The GDL would then only in the talks on the train driver saying.

The climate between the two organizations has long been bad. The ice age now holds at most once. It is actually now a wage freeze. This Wednesday railway and GDL want to talk properly about the demands of the drivers for the first time. In addition to five percent wage increase and a shortened two hours working the GDL wants to impose a number of individual wishes. According to the employer, the GDL-claims amount to an increase of around 15 percent.

union ECG can sit back for now

The train will now submit an offer. It is probably far below the demand for content. Particularly controversial is when the company puts something on the table only for the drivers, but not for the other occupational groups in the GDL. Then the conflict could escalate quickly. The TOE can watch it in peace. Only in the coming week, the main union will then formulate their demands. <-! RSPEAK_STOP ->

Author: Wolfgang Mulke