Zoom Image

Chief Human Resources Officer of Deutsche Bahn: Martin Seiler

Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa

In the wage dispute at Deutsche Bahn, no conclusion has been reached for the fifth day in a row of negotiations. The good news for travelers: In the coming days, at least at the federally owned company, there is no threat of warning strikes. DB and the railway and transport union EVG have agreed to continue their negotiations in the coming week. This was announced by both sides in Berlin in the evening. Prior to this, the EDC intends to inform its decision-making bodies about the current state of negotiations. Until the next round of talks with the DB representatives, strikes have been ruled out.

"We have negotiated intensively and reached an agreement on many issues," said DB Chief Human Resources Officer Martin Seiler. EVG collective bargaining board member Kristian Loroch said: "We have worked out numerous compromise lines in the past few days and now want to discuss them in detail with the responsible decision-making bodies."

What was last negotiated

In the final hours of the negotiations, the focus is likely to have been on possible pay increases and the duration of the collective agreement – the two most complicated issues. The union had already emphasized in an interim report on Wednesday that there was a lot of potential for conflict.

So far, the EVG has largely paralyzed rail traffic twice in the collective bargaining round with warning strikes. A planned 50-hour strike in May was cancelled at short notice after a legal dispute at the labour court in Frankfurt am Main.

What the EVG demands and what the railway offers

The EVG wants to achieve a fixed amount increase of at least 180 euros per month or twelve percent more for the upper wage groups for a good 000,650 employees at Deutsche Bahn (DB). According to their ideas, the term should be twelve months.

With a term of 24 months, the railway had recently promised twelve percent more in several stages for the lower wage groups. A total of ten percent more is to be given to the middle groups and eight percent to the upper ones. The first stage of increase is expected to take place this year. In addition, there is an inflation compensation premium in several payments totaling 2850 euros, which is tax-free and duty-free.

After the end of the evening, both sides left open on which points there were agreements and where differences remain. Nothing else was announced about the course of events and the mood.

On Wednesday, both sides had announced in an interim balance sheet that at the beginning of the week the bus companies of Deutsche Bahn, the freight transport subsidiary DB Cargo and the internal service providers of the state-owned group had been discussed in detail. For example, the EVG wants to abolish the regionally different pay for the employees of the 18 bus companies. Deutsche Bahn is concerned about the profitability and competitiveness of these companies with higher personnel costs. DB Cargo, for example, posted a loss before interest and taxes of €2022 million in 665.

czl/dpa