Germany: burned by the “Mainz station debacle,” the Deutsche Bahn is doing an in-depth review of staff planning in its 330 firms, with the support of its WCs

Learning from the “Mainz station debacle” (where rail traffic was seriously disturbed this summer because there were not enough employees), the German railway, Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced, on November 4, that it intended to recruit 1,700 additional employees in 2014, 1,250 with a permanent contract and 450 with a fixed-term contract.  The DB’s management, the group works council and the rail union (Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft, EVG) adopted an agreement providing for recruitments as well as a series of measures designed to limit the large number of extra hours performed and days off not taken.  Three days earlier, management and EVG also agreed to improve the “collective agreement for young talents” (Nachwuchskräfte-Tarifvertrag) in order to make things better for young people training or following dual studies in the company.  (Ref.  130679)
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Exhaustive review of personnel planning for 2014 with the WCs. This summer, in the middle of the holidays and a few months to the federal election, the DB experienced one of its darkest hours. For several weeks, regional trains were canceled and high-speed trains were rerouted to Mainz, the capital of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The DB explained that 15 railroaders in charge of traffic or pointing were on holiday or sick leave. Forced to come back from his vacation, Rüdiger Grube, ch

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