- According to GDL, strike begins Wednesday 3 a.m. and ends Friday 12 p.m.
- The GDL wants to enforce the 35-hour week by all means and does not recognise improvements already made to the City-Bahn
- City-Bahn Managing Director: "We have already been paying between 10 and 14 per cent more wages since March!"
Chemnitz - The City-Bahn Chemnitz will be on strike from 3 a.m. on Wednesday by the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL). The main issue is still the union's adherence to the 35-hour week with full pay compensation.
Regardless of the concessions made by other railway companies, City-Bahn Chemnitz is sticking to its no to the 35-hour week. This is because, unlike other railway companies that have reached agreements with the GDL, City-Bahn is a municipal company that is financed almost entirely with taxpayers' money. Therefore, only what comes in can be spent on financing City-Bahn operations. "The GDL's dreams that tax revenues will continue to bubble up won't help - I can't pay for a reduction in working hours while wages continue to rise with air bookings."says City-Bahn Managing Director Friedbert Straube.
"I haven't yet found anyone who will pay us the additional two million euros for this - per year. We also can't cancel any journeys or run two trains with one driver. I want to reduce the strain on shift work. But worse duty rosters and the cancellation of benefits to finance the GDL's dreams would have the opposite effect."
As the negotiations with the GDL are dragging on, the City-Bahn managing director does not want this impasse to be carried out on the backs of the workforce.
Friedbert Straube: "It's absolutely clear that wages have to rise. After two near-zero rounds in recent years, city railway workers urgently needed a pay rise because the cost of living has climbed. I had therefore decided to raise our wages by 10 to 14 per cent, as in the public sector, even without an agreement with the GDL - with retroactive effect from March in full and without any step models."
Despite the improvements that have already been made, the GDL has decided to strike again on the city railway because it also wants to force a reduction in working hours by 2029.
All the latest information on possible rail connections and bus replacement services that can be operated despite the strike will be available from midday on Tuesday, 7 May on the homepage: www.city-bahn.de.
