Germany’s rail company Deutsche Bahn (DB) caused a furore when it signed a collective agreement back in December 2016 with the major rail union the EVG that in a landmark move, offered 100,000 salaried union members the choice between a 2.6% salary raise, a one hour per week reduction in working time, and an additional six days holiday per year. Today both parties draw positive conclusions from the agreement. A majority of the staff opted for the extra holidays. Bolstered by this success the EVG enters new collective negotiations on 11 October with DB and it has decided to propose that this provision be extended further. However the collective negotiations are expected to be difficult. Below we take a look at the model that several other companies have since copied.
Power to have some influence on ones working time. In a conversation with Planet Labor, Uwe Reitz, EVG rail spokesperson explained that the December 2016 agreement was born of a dilemma. At the start of 2016, the trade union conducted a DB staff survey in order to identify their priorities ahead of collective negotiations. The survey found that 50% of staff sought additional holidays. “In order not to disappoint any of our members opinions we made a multi-option proposal to DB management, which was then accepted,” Uwe Reitz explained.
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