(The following story by Hugh Williamson appeared on the Financial Times website on January 15.)
BERLIN — German train drivers are to receive an 11 per cent pay increase under an outline agreement with the state-owned railway operator Deutsche Bahn – a move that could add to trade union pressure this year for large wage rises.
The draft deal between the rail operator and the GDL train drivers’ trade union, signed on Sunday, was welcome news yesterday for millions of German commuters, who have been hit repeatedly by rail strikes during a 10-month wage dispute.
Manfred Schell, GDL chairman, said he was “99 per cent sure” that there would be no further strikes. Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the breakthrough and called for a “quick resolution” of outstanding issues.
The deal represents a victory for the GDL, a splinter trade union that last year demanded a separate agreement with Deutsche Bahn, after the two main rail unions agreed a 4.5 per cent wage increase.
The union has also achieved another of its core demands, for the right to negotiate a separate agreement on pay and working hours for train drivers.
Margret Suckale, Deutsche Bahn’s chief personnel officer, said the agreement, while necessary, was expensive and beyond what was “economically reasonable” for the company.
Other German unions welcomed it as a sign that similar increases in other sectors were likely.
Public sector workers last week demanded an 8 per cent wage increase and hospital doctors yesterday launched negotiations for a 10 per cent rise. The other rail unions also called for additional pay for their members.
The government has signaled that relatively large wage increases may be appropriate this year, given Germany’s economic recovery, rising prices and the lack of real wage increases in recent years.
Repeated warnings by economists and the European Central Bank that wage increases could fuel inflation were dismissed by the DGB, Germany’s trade union congress. Dierk Hierschel, DGB chief economist, said the ECB was “ideologically prejudiced” and should “keep out” of collective bargaining issues.
GDL’s success in gaining the right to negotiate separately is likely to mark a further fragmentation of German collective bargaining, traditionally based on negotiating industry-wide agreements, or, in the case of Deutsche Bahn, one for the entire state-owned company, which has 240,000 staff.
Groups of pilots, doctors and air-traffic controllers already have separate contracts, based on the argument that larger trade unions no longer represent their specialist interests. Deutsche Bahn’s 20,000 train drivers, who have seen their pay fall to €1,900 (£1,440) a month or less – are now at the vanguard of this movement.
However, both Deutsche Bahn and the company’s unions – including GDL – appear keen to limit the impact of this fragmentation. The company and union officials said that under a new bargaining structure, about 80 per cent of issues for negotiation would still be covered by a framework agreement signed by all unions.