- GDL boss repeats untruths like a mantra
- Four points refute the union
- City-Bahn managing director: "Escalation comes from GDL!"
Chemnitz - Claus Weselsky, Federal Chairman of the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL), repeats accusations against the Chemnitz city railway and local politics like a mantra. In doing so, he reveals a dubious relationship to the fundamental rights of others and the rule of law.
The facts:
1 GDL claims: The city railway is escalating. This is false.
- On 8 November 2023, the CBC presented an offer that the GDL rejected outright. Among other things, it included a ten to 14 per cent wage increase - significantly more than the GDL is currently negotiating.
- Since March, all City Bahn employees have been paid ten to 14 per cent more.
- In the meantime, the CBC has submitted a third compromise offer.
City-Bahn Managing Director Friedbert Straube: "The escalation is therefore coming from the union, whose national chairman has repeatedly and openly threatened to destroy the City-Bahn." According to Weselsky, there is no agreement without a 35-hour week. This is a dictate that City-Bahn cannot bow to because this reduction in working hours cannot be financed.
2 GDL claims that the City-Bahn is burning taxpayers' money. This is false.
If there are no trains running due to a strike, train drivers don't get paid, the vehicles don't need electricity/diesel and there is no maintenance. The only money that flows is the strike pay from the union to the strikers. For the coming weekend, when the GDL plans to strike again, this is estimated to be at least 10,000 euros.
3 GDL claims that the market level/reference is 35 hours per week and refers to 45 transport companies that have already accepted this reduction in working hours. However, this is also incorrect.
According to the Federal Railway Authority, 549 railway companies are registered in Germany. The sheer number of those that accepted the 35-hour week in GDL collective bargaining is therefore in the single-digit percentage range. This is by no means a market reference.
4 GDL claims that it is (quote): "it is hard to imagine that questions about freedom of association, the right to strike and the German constitution that have long been answered are now being redefined. The legal process does not end in Chemnitz, but in case of doubt at the Federal Labour Court."
This is correct. However, the courts have already clearly decided the limits of the right to strike in the area of services of general interest and thus also in the area of school transport in favour of the City-Bahn and thus against the trade unions. Trade unions are obliged to set up emergency services and participate in them in order to ensure basic services for the population (e.g. LAG Baden-Württemberg of 18 July 2023, Ref.: 4 SaGa 3/23; LAG Hamburg of 26 March 2023, Ref.: 1 Ta 1/23). The Chemnitz Labour Court followed these principles by allowing City-Bahn to operate school transport services despite strikes. The GDL has lodged an appeal against this, not without the indication that it would appeal to the Federal Labour Court if it did not like the decision of the 2nd instance (the regional labour court appealed to). The decisions of local courts apparently have the same importance for the GDL as the observance of local conditions for local public transport.
