Next Deutsche Bahn strike to start Sunday, last 50 hours

Germany's rail and transport workers' trade union, the EVG, announced a 50-hour rail strike starting late on Sunday and likely heavily impacting train traffic on Monday and Tuesday of next week. 

Several different unions in or around the transport sector have been in negotiations with employers for months, leading to a series of strikes on public transport and at airports, among other places.

According to the EVG, the upcoming strike will affect German national rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) and other transport companies where there has not been "meaningful" progress in recent weeks. 

"The patience of our members is now really exhausted," EVG wage negotiator Cosima Ingenschay said on Thursday. "We are forced to strike for 50 hours to show how serious the situation is."

Workers will down tools from 10 p.m. (20:00 UTC/GMT) on Sunday night until the end of the day on Tuesday.

Deutsche Bahn said it is canceling all long-distance rail service during the strike. 

Deutsche Bahn calls strike 'crazy,' 'excessive'

For the EVG specifically, this is the third so-called "warning strike" of its kind during negotiations lasting roughly two months on pay. It carried out similar actions late in March and late in April. 

Deutsche Bahn's head of personnel Martin Seiler criticized both the decision to strike and calling a "warning strike" that does not require a members' vote. 

"This crazy strike is completely baseless and totally excessive," Seiler said, arguing that a solution was in reach. "This is effectively a full strike, but without a members' vote. Millions of travelers won't be able to go where they want to — to school, to work, to their loved ones." 

According to the EVG, rail cargo services are liable to be hit particularly hard. Seiler agreed with this estimation, saying delays could have an impact far beyond Germany. 

"One must reckon with considerable effects on cargo transport across Europe," he said. "Six out of 10 European freight corridors make use of the German rail network." 

Offers on table, but unions say low earners in particular at risk

The negotiations are for roughly 230,000 employees in various rail and bus companies. 

The EVG is calling for a 12% pay increase, or an extra €650 per month as a minimum for people who would receive less than that sum at 12%. 

Deutsche Bahn recently submitted an offer it said was reflective of a similar wage agreement with a trade union representing public sector employees. 

The company says its offer would equate to a roughly 10% raise for lower and middle-earners, around 8% for better-paid staff, as well as a one-off inflation compensation payment of €2,850 for everyone. 

DB also recently agreed to the EVG's call to incorporate Germany's new increased €12 minimum wage into its pay structures, but the EVG argues it has done so in such a way that's still designed to cap how much its lowest earners could gain.

The EVG is a particularly important union for Deutsche Bahn, with almost a quarter of a million members working almost exclusively in railway-related jobs.

"We will, therefore, again signal unmistakably that the offers submitted [by Deutsche Bahn or other employers] must be improved considerably," Ingenschay said. "Because there's only minimal movement at the negotiating table, there will be another strike." 

Bonuses paid despite missed targets — report 

The strike announcement also follows a critical investigative report published late on Wednesday by public broadcaster NDR and daily paper the Süddeutsche Zeitung. 

According to the reports, citing internal DB documents obtained, the company paid bonuses to some 30,000 employees last year despite some of the worst punctuality and customer satisfaction figures in the company's history. 

Both punctuality and customer satisfaction are nominally among the categories DB uses to calculate these bonuses, but according to the reports the criteria had been weighted with a value of zero (so in other words not counted) for 2022's calculations. 

Other categories still being taken into account when assigning the bonus payments included employee satisfaction, women in leading positions and meeting financial targets. 

According to the reports, the bonus payments went to 3,800 senior executives and roughly 30,000 employees in all, and were worth in excess of €100 million (roughly $105 million) all told. 

The publications quoted one person they described as a member of DB management who did not want to be named saying they found the decision absurd. 

"As a service provider you've failed completely — and yet as an executive you get a bonus worth almost 100% of your salary," the person was quoted as saying. 

msh/sms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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