In the wage dispute with the Union of German Locomotive Drivers (GDL), Deutsche Bahn has expanded its wage offer, which has been available since June: It is now also offering the employees represented by the GDL negotiations about an additional special corona bonus - and hopes the union will benefit from its current one To dissuade labor dispute.

The railway is "taking another step towards the GDL in order to avoid further strikes and quickly find tangible solutions," said the state-owned company on Sunday.

"DB is ready to bring a Corona bonus to the negotiating table for 2021." Deutsche Bahn does not initially provide any information on the possible amount of such a bonus.

"Fooling, tricking, filling pockets"

Dietrich Creutzburg

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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The GDL chairman, Claus Weselsky, harshly rejected the proposal on Sunday evening. "Deutsche Bahn remains true to its motto of deceiving, tricking, filling pockets," he explained. The proposal is not only inadequate because the railway has not quantified the amount of the premium offered. The railway also does not respond to other core demands - for example "with regard to the power of representation of the GDL for the other professional groups of direct, system-relevant staff". It was only on Friday that Weselsky had once again made it clear that they wanted to conclude “collective agreements for the entire infrastructure, for the network, station and service and the workshops” with the railway in competition with the larger railroad workers' union EVG.

With its premium proposal, however, the railway is taking up a point from the GDL's package of demands that had remained unanswered with its previous wage offers.

In addition to wage increases of 3.2 percent for the years 2021 and 2022, the union is also demanding a corona bonus in the form of a one-off payment of 600 euros.

The railway had already offered an increase of 3.2 percent, but over a longer period of time.

Company pensions are another area of ​​conflict.

There will be a strike until Wednesday

The GDL has scheduled the new strike that has been running since the weekend until Wednesday night.

Bahn Personnel Director Martin Seiler reiterated that, from his point of view, a solution is now quickly possible.

"So there can be no more reason to refuse to return to the negotiating table."

For the railway, the additional costs of the possible corona premium would not be limited to the GDL members.

Because the EVG, whose collective bargaining round has been concluded with the railway since 2020, has retained the right to renegotiate in such cases.

The EVG chairman, Klaus-Dieter Hommel, recently pointed this out several times.

The GDL had expanded the current wave of strikes on Monday night from freight to passenger transport.

The railway assumed that it could offer around a quarter of the long-distance trains with an emergency timetable.