Negotiations are erratically complicated. Bargaining for collective agreements in the German rail sector, mostly for passenger transport, is still as complicated as ever. On the one hand, the two majority rail unions are separately bargaining for a so-called joint agreement with the DB and other private stakeholders. They are asking for a 6% wage increase for the DB’s 165,000 employees. However, first, they want the DB and private firms to establish identical regional minimum wage in all rail companies. On the other hand, the GDL train drivers’ union, which only bargains on its own account, seems to have found an agreement with the DB’s main rivals, namely Abellio Rail, Arriva, BeNEX, Keolis, Veolia and Hessischen Landesbahn. To make everything even more complicated, employers are now divided in three: DB; private businesses within the AGVDE; and private businesses that decided to leave the AGVDE to bargain with the trade unions. For the moment, talks between the unions and the AGVDE are at a standstill. Indeed, this summer, the federation proposed minimum wage ranging between 9 and 11 euros an hour. Unions said this offer was a “joke.” However, the AGVDE replied that “paying more would lead to the death of competition” and refuses to make a new offer. Because of this radical attitude, some members of the federation decided to leave the AGVDE to bargain with unions directly.
and, the GDL train drivers’ union, which only bargains on its own account, seems to have found an agreement with the DB’s main rivals, namely Abellio Rail, Arriva, BeNEX, Keolis, Veolia and Hessischen Landesbahn. To make everything even more complicated, employers are now divided in three: DB; private businesses within the AGVDE; and private businesses that decided to leave the AGVDE to bargain with the trade unions. For the moment, talks between the unions and the AGVDE are at a standstill. I
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