Berlin In the collective bargaining at Deutsche Bahn, the group presented a first offer on Tuesday evening. The railway and transport union (EVG) now wants to examine this and submit it to the collective bargaining committee for evaluation on Wednesday morning, said a union spokesman afterwards. Then a decision will be made on how to proceed. Nothing was known about the content on Tuesday evening. Personnel director Martin Seiler had previously announced that the offer would address the issue of the minimum wage, among other things.
In the negotiations, the EVG is demanding at least 650 euros more wages for 180,000 employees. She wants to achieve an increase of twelve percent in the higher fees over a period of twelve months. In addition, she calls for some structural changes in the collective agreements. The railway had rejected the claims as clearly too high. From their point of view, these amount to increases of around 25 percent.
Initial talks between Deutsche Bahn and EVG were interrupted after a short time in Fulda at the end of February. In addition to the railway, the union is also negotiating with around 50 other railway companies. The first round of negotiations with all companies should be completed by March 23.
The EVG had requested an offer from the employers before concrete content could be negotiated. The railways insisted on first talking about the demands. The round of negotiations in Berlin was scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Whether the talks will continue on Wednesday now depends on the EVG’s assessment of the offer. Collective bargaining officer Cosima Ingenschay had previously emphasized that the workforce was ready for warning strikes. However, she did not give any specific timetables.
A sticking point from the trade union point of view is the statutory minimum wage. According to the EVG, this is currently only maintained for a few thousand employees thanks to allowances, but has not yet been included in the income table. The minimum wage issue is also included in the overall offer that Deutsche Bahn has in its luggage on Tuesday, the group said last week.
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