In the wage dispute between the train drivers' union GDL and Deutsche Bahn, the tone is rougher.
"Judging by the mood in the workforce, the strike could not last long enough," said Claus Weselsky, federal chairman of the German Locomotive Drivers Union (GDL), of Bild am Sonntag.
“But we do not want to permanently paralyze or damage the system.
We are always ready to talk. "
At the beginning of June, the GDL declared the collective bargaining negotiations to have failed and announced a strike vote on strikes. This should be counted on August 9th. Weselsky expects a clear result. "Employees are angry and frustrated at an employer who does not allow them to compensate for inflation or a corona bonus, while executives continue to fill their pockets," he said. "So far, DB has not been interested in an amicable solution and is instead pursuing the well-known tactic of camouflaging, tricking, deceiving."
The railway rejected the allegations. “Mr. Weselsky should stick to the facts. So far, the GDL leaders have not been ready to negotiate our offers. All that came was refusal and strike threats - because the GDL boss has so far had power interests in the foreground, "said a spokeswoman on Sunday. If you want solutions, come to the negotiating table. "If Mr. Weselsky is really serious about his willingness to talk, then there is no need for a ballot."
From an economic point of view, a strike would come at an absolutely inopportune time, because the railway is posting deep red numbers in the Corona crisis. In the first six months of the year, the bottom line was a minus of over 1.4 billion euros, according to corporate documents that the Reuters news agency received on Wednesday. Mainly long-distance traffic with ICE and IC was responsible for this. This was due to the fact that the railway continued to run its trains without major restrictions at the request of the federal government, despite low capacity utilization. After all, the loss in the group as a whole remained well below the previous year's figure of 3.7 billion euros, which, however, had increased due to special effects such as depreciation. In addition, the company now has to repair the billions in damage caused by the flood.