After a second round of negotiations, a collective bargaining agreement between Deutsche Bahn (DB) and trade union EVG seems closer. The new offer presented by DB has been deemed as an improvement, especially when it comes to the DB Cargo situation.
“This brings us a significant step closer to our goal of concluding a new collective agreement before the federal election”, the union’s co-negotiator Cosima Ingenschay pointed out. The first offer included a 4 per cent raise for all workers in two steps, plus a 2.6 per cent wage increase for shift workers. Now, DB proposed an additional 1.3 per cent pay rise for them. This “means a total of 7.9 percent more money for around 100,000 employees”, DB said.
The DB Cargo questions seems solved
One of the bones of contention after the first round of negotiations concerned DB Cargo, which is undergoing a massive restructuring. In their first proposal, DB included the possibility of deviating from the agreement when it comes to DB Cargo employees if it became necessary for the restructuring plan. Predictably, EVG was not too happy with the proposal.
However, things seemed to have improved at this latest negotiation. “The results of this round of collective bargaining, such as wage increases, also apply in principle to DB Cargo employees”, DB stated. There will still be an option to change the agreement specifically for workers at the rail freight operator, but the modalities have changed. Instead of being a unilateral decision by DB, “an independent auditor will be called in for this purpose”.
Next (and final?) round next week
“In addition, DB and EVG have agreed to develop structural improvements for operational managers by the end of this year and to implement them from 2026”, the company claimed. The duration of the collective bargaining agreement was confirmed for 37 months. The next round of negotiations is planned for 12 February, 11 days before the federal elections in Germany, which is the soft deadline set by EVG to have the agreement signed.
