Germany: showdown around “One company, one trade union” escalating after a 91% vote by Deutsche Bahn train drivers for an all-out strike

A juncture has been reached in the dispute between the German train drivers' union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn management. 91% of the 27,000 GDL members employed by DB supported shifting from a warning strike to an all-out and indefinite strike. The vote results were announced Thursday, 2 October. Beyond demands for pay increases and collective claims, the clash pitting the small trade union against DB particularly centers around calls by GDL to negotiate collective bargaining agreements for staff besides drivers, who are currently represented by the major railway trade union EVG. The standoff between a small-scale, profession-based trade union and a sizable generalist organization is, incidentally, mirrored by events transpiring at the airline Lufthansa, where the German pilots' union, Cockpit, is currently asserting its own claims. Employers await with baited breath the law to be adopted in fall re-introducing the doctrine "One company, one trade union, one collective bargaining agreement," while trade unionists are deeply split over a plan that will heavily affect German co-determination (Mitbestimmung).