EVG announces new rail strike from Sunday to Tuesday

Dusseldorf With a nationwide warning strike, the railway and transport union (EVG) wants to paralyze rail traffic in Germany for 50 hours from Sunday evening. From 10 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday evening, long-distance, regional and freight traffic are affected, as the union announced on Thursday. Until Friday evening, Deutsche Bahn still has the chance to avert the work stoppage by improving its offer.

Nevertheless, the railway announced on Thursday that it would completely stop long-distance traffic during the period. Even in regional transport, “mostly no trains will run during the strike”. “All passengers who want to postpone their trip planned for May 14th to 16th due to the strike can now flexibly use their long-distance ticket booked up to and including May 11th up to and including Sunday evening,” the railway said.

Personnel director Martin Seiler had previously emphasized that rail traffic can be maintained largely smoothly at least until Sunday evening. “After what I know now, I would definitely want to see Sunday as safe for traffic,” he said in Cologne.

Rail strike: EVG negotiates for 230,000 workers

Due to the long duration of the strike, there should also be traffic jams in freight traffic. “This will also result in economic pressure,” said EVG collective bargaining officer Cosima Ingenschay. The railway also warned of significant disruptions. Six out of ten European freight corridors used the German rail network.

For the first time, the EVG is negotiating a package for around 230,000 employees at around 50 rail and bus companies. 180,000 of them are employed by Deutsche Bahn. Some smaller companies, with which negotiations are currently being held, are exempt from the announced warning strike, explained Ingenschay.

At the end of March and mid-April, work stoppages had already taken place in rail transport on the initiative of the union. On Tuesday of this week, the railways had improved their offer again. She suggested that the statutory minimum wage, as required by the EVG, be included in all pay tables. The offered wage increase of ten percent will also benefit the approximately 2,000 employees affected.

Deutsche Bahn criticizes the EVG’s “blockade attitude”.

In addition, it was offered to stipulate in a collective agreement that DB employees would generally earn five percent more than the statutory minimum wage even if there were future adjustments.

Accordingly, HR Director Seiler criticized the renewed threat of a strike as a blockade attitude: “We have once again made concessions to the EVG. Announcing strikes as a result is completely exaggerated and completely disproportionate.”

In their concession, which is described as a “historically high offer”, Deutsche Bahn wants to grant inflation compensation of 2850 euros spread over several months until February 2024. There are also ten percent linear wage increases for lower and middle incomes and an eight percent wage increase for upper incomes. A tariff period of 27 months is planned.

The EVG, on the other hand, continues to demand a salary supplement of twelve percent, but at least 650 euros. In addition, the collective agreement should only apply for twelve months.

EVG members must forego strike pay

The EVG described the regulation for the minimum wage as the biggest remaining point of contention. The DB has now actually capped it at 13 euros with its offer, the union criticized. EVG negotiator Kristian Loroch, on the other hand, described the required minimum surcharge of 650 euros as “bargaining ground”.

However, the EVG members have to do without strike pay, although according to Loroch, DB does not pay for the lost working hours. “We will only automatically pay strike pay from the third continuous day of the strike,” said the trade unionist.

More: EVG largely paralyzes traffic in Germany