- GDL announces new warning strike
- Demand for a 35-hour week is dubious
- Despite strike: City-Bahn organises morning trips to school for pupils
Chemnitz - The German Train Drivers' Union (GDL) is on a confrontational course: from 10.00 pm on Thursday there is a threat of another strike - this time for 24 hours! A fortnight ago, train drivers went on strike for 20 hours. As always, it is the passengers who suffer.
GDL has broken off negotiations with railway companies. The reason: the union is stubbornly demanding a 35-hour working week for GDL members with remarkable ignorance of the current personnel situation.
Yet the railway industry is currently suffering from far too few staff!
Friedbert Straube, Managing Director of City-Bahn Chemnitz: "The shortage of qualified train drivers in the industry is around 10 per cent. Closing this gap is the challenge for the next few years - especially as many train drivers are about to retire. There are only three things that can help: train, train and then train some more! That's what we're doing: We have trained almost 80 train drivers in the last 6 years. Currently, 20 men and women are learning the profession of train driver at City-Bahn. A training rate of 20 per cent!"
Five reasons why City-Bahn trains so many people:
1) Close staffing gap, reduce overtime to zero,
2) create employee-friendly services,
3) enable as many train drivers as possible to go on holiday on their preferred dates at the same time,
4) Enable part-time work for colleagues with small children or parents in need of care,
5) enable interested train drivers to gain further internal qualifications for tasks in operations control and organisation.
With its high training quota, City-Bahn Chemnitz ensures optimal working conditions within the company and at the same time counteracts the threat of supply bottlenecks. It is currently an unfortunate trend that rail services are being cancelled throughout Germany due to a lack of staff.
Friedbert Straube: "To call for a 35-hour week in a situation like this is - to put it kindly - dubious." Better 38 hours a week and good working conditions than 35 hours and stale rosters." The package of offers with which City-Bahn entered the negotiations sounds unattainable for many other sectors: Between 10 and 14 per cent more pay, 11 per cent higher bonuses for night and public holiday work, up to 3000 euros net one-off payment. Despite this, the GDL broke off the only negotiation after just one hour and more than 23 of the 26 demands were not even discussed!
Friedbert Straube: "Strike for 20 hours and then another 24 hours, but barely negotiate for an hour. Anyone who does that wants a riot, but probably no solution at all. I'm sorry that passengers are now being affected by the GDL again."
The City-Bahn is trying to find solutions for morning school transport.
On the homepage (www.city-bahn.de), it informs pupils and parents about any special connections and all other passengers about the last available train connections before the start of the strike. The same applies to the first regular trains after the strike. It is therefore worth checking regularly. In addition, the City-Bahn repeatedly puts together alternative bus connections for its passengers.
