German DB railway going on strike for six days, starting tomorrow Wednesday
24th Jan.

Am 23.01.2024 um 19:17 schrieb Tweed:
> German DB railway going on strike for six days, starting tomorrow Wednesday
> 24th Jan.

There are two unions fighting for control in the railway sector:
broad-based "EVG" and and (traditionally) train-drivers "GDL".
A few years ago, a GDL strike was instrumental for law on "unique
representation": only the mejority union has the legal standing to
negotiate wages and a tariff.

This caused two follow-up problems:
1) the employer has no right to demand knowledge of employees' union
membership, so determination of a majority union is tricky.
2) DB is split up into 110 legal entites, EVG has the majority in appox.
90 of them but in most train driving units, GDL has the majority.

GDL demand a reduction of working time from 38 hour per week to 35 hours
per week to make the job more attractive. DB claim they can't reduce
working hours due to a lack of drivers.

Due to the "majority law", GDL now demands to negotiate tariffs for
non-driving personell as well, DB refuses.

A three-day strike in early January did not bring the two sides closer
to each others.

Rolf

On Wed, 24 Jan 2024 10:21:44 +0100
Rolf Mantel <news@hartig-mantel.de> wrote:
>Am 23.01.2024 um 19:17 schrieb Tweed:
>> German DB railway going on strike for six days, starting tomorrow Wednesday
>> 24th Jan.
>
>There are two unions fighting for control in the railway sector:
>broad-based "EVG" and and (traditionally) train-drivers "GDL".
>A few years ago, a GDL strike was instrumental for law on "unique
>representation": only the mejority union has the legal standing to
>negotiate wages and a tariff.

There seems to be something about the railway sector around europe that
attracts entitled agitators, the last hang out of washed up union activists
no doubt.

On Wed, 24 Jan 2024 09:29:00 -0000 (UTC), Muttley@dastardlyhq.com wrote:

>On Wed, 24 Jan 2024 10:21:44 +0100
>Rolf Mantel <news@hartig-mantel.de> wrote:
>>Am 23.01.2024 um 19:17 schrieb Tweed:
>>> German DB railway going on strike for six days, starting tomorrow Wednesday
>>> 24th Jan.
>>
>>There are two unions fighting for control in the railway sector:
>>broad-based "EVG" and and (traditionally) train-drivers "GDL".
>>A few years ago, a GDL strike was instrumental for law on "unique
>>representation": only the mejority union has the legal standing to
>>negotiate wages and a tariff.
>
>There seems to be something about the railway sector around europe that
>attracts entitled agitators, the last hang out of washed up union activists
>no doubt.

It's mainly in the public sector, produces a product that can't be stockpiled, and a relatively small number of
activists can disrupt a lot of lives.

On 24/1/24 20:21, Rolf Mantel wrote:
>
> There are two unions fighting for control in the railway sector:
> broad-based "EVG" and and (traditionally) train-drivers "GDL".
> A few years ago, a GDL strike was instrumental for law on "unique
> representation": only the mejority union has the legal standing to
> negotiate wages and a tariff.

I work in an environment where two unions can represent me. A number of
years ago the two unions went to court and spent months fighting in an
industrial relations court over who had the 'right' to represent me.

The email exchanges between the two ( all staff got status updates by
broadcast email from BOTH union reps) was most 'entertaining'.

The union that traditionally represented my 'class' of employee
effectively lost, exclusivity was struck down and the other union has
done a far better job since at recruiting.
My employer brings all unions and staff 'elected from the floor' to
negotiations - so it's possible (but unlikely) non union staff will be
part of the negotiating team. (Only union members are likely to show any
interest in being involved in this time consuming and combative process)

Our last agreement was two years late. The unions and management spent
nearly 4 years glaring at each other over the table. (Actually one of
the sticking points was management didn't turn up to many of the
meetings, only their highly paid IR lawyers did.)

A conservative government just loves it when unions start fighting each
other. :-)

On 04.02.2024 21:55, Matthew Geier wrote:
> On 24/1/24 20:21, Rolf Mantel wrote:
>>
>> There are two unions fighting for control in the railway sector:
>> broad-based "EVG" and and (traditionally) train-drivers "GDL".
>> A few years ago, a GDL strike was instrumental for law on "unique
>> representation": only the mejority union has the legal standing to
>> negotiate wages and a tariff.
>
> I work in an environment where two unions can represent me. A number of
> years ago the two unions went to court and spent months fighting in an
> industrial relations court over who had the 'right' to represent me.
>
> The email exchanges between the two ( all staff got status updates by
> broadcast email from BOTH union reps) was most 'entertaining'.
>
> The union that traditionally represented my 'class' of employee
> effectively lost, exclusivity was struck down and the other union has
> done a far better job since at recruiting.
> My employer brings all unions and staff 'elected from the floor' to
> negotiations - so it's possible (but unlikely) non union staff will be
> part of the negotiating team. (Only union members are likely to show any
> interest in being involved in this time consuming and combative process)
>
> Our last agreement was two years late. The unions and management spent
> nearly 4 years glaring at each other over the table. (Actually one of
> the sticking points was management didn't turn up to many of the
> meetings, only their highly paid IR lawyers did.)

People wonder why labour relations are poor. If the response of
management to a meeting to negotiate is to send in the lawyers and not
actually engage, fundamentally things are off to a bad start. If a
company is trying to negotiate a deal with a supplier or customer, they
send people whose job it is to actually reach a deal, not to send in
lawyers with the objective to screw over the other side.

Robin

On 04/02/2024 20:55, Matthew Geier wrote:
> A conservative government just loves it when unions start fighting each
> other. 🙂

Doesn't everyone like to see unions squabbling and even better when
someone gets 'one up' on the unions.

Years ago, in the days of mainframe computers, a friend worked on a
project installing a computer system for a customer. The engineers, as
always, worked long hours and usually there was a bit of 'give and
take'. But one day they asked a (unionised) wireman if he would just
finish a small job before going home. He wanted a huge payment to do it
so they did not get that bit finished that day.

The project was near completion and on time, there was a large bonus for
finishing it on time. So on the last day of the project, all the
engineers took a day off, so no bonuses. The wiremen were furious so it
was suggested they should be a bit more cooperative in the future.