Relief for Germany on the eve of the summer holidays: caught up in a year long apparently intractable dispute, the train drivers’ union GDL together with management at Deutsche Bahn announced on 01 July that they had resolved their differences and concluded a series of collective agreements. This result came about thanks to an arbitration procedure that started five weeks ago. The two arbiters Matthias Platzeck (SPD) former Minister-President of Brandenberg and Bodo Remelow (Linke) current Minister-President of Thuringia presented alongside Claus Weselsky, GDL President and Ulrich Weber Deutsche Bank HR Director, the main thrusts of the agreements that should lead to a reduction in workloads for train crews. Both sides believe their principle demands have been met: sign of a good compromise.
A return to social calm on the trains. During the joint press conference neither arbiters covered up the difficulty of their five-week mission. “The situation at the outset was extremely tense. If we had put a light bulb between the two parties it would have stayed alight all by itself,” shared Matthias Platzeck. “But we finished up by coming to a reasonable and measured agreement.” Sitting beside him, Bodo Ramelow indicated that 16 collective agreements had been signed by both parties....
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