In the on-going saga of the German Rail strike, Mehdorn, the CEO of Die Deutsche Bahn, has turned up the rhetoric toward the GDL, the locomotive drivers' union. Those of you who read German can take a look at the report in Tagesschau. http://www.tagesschau.de/

Basically, Mehdorn is saying that die Bahn will sue the union for damages in cases of illegal strikes AND take disciplinary action against any locomotive driver who threatens the safety of the rail system.

I personally don't understand the legal situation where the strikes are concerned. I have read the reports in the press, but even after a German friend of mine offered an explanation, I am still not clear.

I think !!!! the situation is this, in simplistic terms: Various German regional courts have ruled on the legality of the strike. Some of the lower courts have forbidden it. To get a ruling from a unified juristiction, the case was referred to the labor court at the Hague, which declined to hear the case and referred it to a higher German court.

What happens next in the judicial proceedings is not something I grasp. At any rate, strike talk is getting tougher and the threats are escalating.

Neither side will talk to the other and the latest management offer of a settlement was rejected almost immediately as insufficient.

Neither side will compromise from its present position and the battle in the newspapers is heating up. So there the matter sits until early next week.

The strike vote results will be announced on Monday with all expectations that the vote will be to strike.

The GDL says that next Wednesday is the earliest that any labor action will be taken. The time, place, and extent of the strike has not been discussed in the media. I am sure many insiders have a pretty good idea of where and when and how much, but nothing has popped up in the press that I have seen.

Hello Bob:

As one who will be traveling extensively by train in Germany during September/October, I would like to express my thanks for your fine reports. I'm sure that many others share this sentiment. Please keep them coming and we'll all hope for a quick settlement. Gradyghost

I try to read something in German each day. This time I have had a real incentive because I was thinking of taking the train on August 20 from Munich.

I decided to quit playing GDL strike roulette and changed my car rental contract. Now let the buggars strike!

I will keep up with it because I am gradually getting my vocabulary up to speed, although my German friends are being pestered for language help. That's ok, I gave them a hand earlier when they were trying to decipher American slang.

One aspect of Mehdorn's latest press quotes was that he said he would train replacement workers in case of a strike.

That could lead to real fireworks.
Here is one aspect of German labor strikes I do not know about. Do the strikers form picket lines like they do in the US? "Scabs" over here have been assaulted in some labor disputes.

Bob, here's a look at their protest line at the train station:
http://flickr.com/photos/genesis3000/766873307/

Looks like a picket line to me.
If Mehdorn tries to quick=train replacement locomotive drivers and put them in the locomotive cabs to drive the trains, he may have some real unrest among the strikers.

I doubt if the locomotive drivers are as tough as a bunch of angry coal miners in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, but I don't think I want them in a bellicose mood aimed at me!!

I do have a question for someone much more fluent in German than I am. In the following sentence, would the word unterlaufen be best translated as "undermine". My dictionary gives "avoid" as another meaning, but in this context it seems to me that the strike will go on. Hence, Mehdorn is avoiding nothing. What he might accomplish with a few scab engine drivers would be to run a few trains and undermine the effects of the strike.


Um den Streik zu unterlaufen, kündigte Mehdorn Dienstplanverschiebungen und ein Sonderausbildungsprogramm für Bewerber innerhalb und außerhalb des Unternehmens an.

I think that leads to an interesting question. Mehdorn grabs some guy, runs him through 10 hours of locomotive driver training, puts him at the controls of the Berlin express, and the rookie driver piles up the whole train when he misinterprets a signal. Is Mehdorn not acting just as irresponsibly as a driver who abandons his train in the middle of the stretch? In such an eventuality, who sues whom for what?

Rhetorical question; probably not a scenario that will become real.

Thanks, Bob.

How do other workers go about respecting, or not respecting, picket lines? Are dedicated trade unionists expected to give up trains when this strike is on, or what is the commonly understood idea of union solidarity in Germany?

>unterlaufen
undermine would be the best translation.

Undermine, yes.

The locomotive drivers union GDL is a very small union. The other employees of the Bahn are organised in two other unions which are much, much larger. I suppose the union solidarity within the GDL is solid, but the other two unions fight the GDL.

Bob, you don't have to worry about the rookie driver scenario. This is not legal in Germany.

Just read this:
They have a 39 hour work week with pay between 1776€ to 2142€ minus taxes. If they don't make any money, why are tickets so expensive... They need a raise!

You mean Mehdorn is not serious about replacement workers? The only thing he could be referencing in his comments about replacement workers are the locomotive drivers. How long does it take to properly train one of those train drivers? My guess would be that it would take weeks, not hours. There is a heck of a lot they need to know.

I sat in a coach once that had the "cockpit" at the end of it. I was able to see the same thing the driver was seeing out the front window. I was in fact looking over the shoulders of the men at the controls. They had to react to every signal and guage and know what to do.

Sunday in the German press there were references to comments from industry research groups saying that a wide-spread strike would threaten the German economy. There was talk of damage to the business cycle. Witness this quote: Komme es zu längeren Streiks, könne dies "zu einem Knacks bei der Konjunktur führen", sagte BDI-Geschäftsführer Carsten Kreklau.

Mr. Kreklau is saying that if there is a long strike, it could lead to cracks (difficulties) in the business cycle. Kereklau is head of the Federation of German Industry.

Other organizations, such as the Institute for Economic Research are calling on Mehdorn to remain firm. If the GDL gets away with the strike, the result could be the splintering of the large labor union concept which in turn would lead to the formation of many small unions each of which would press its own labor demands.

He foresees splintered yet agressive demands by various work groups for higher pay in many industries. In turn the higher pay demands could in the long run hurt the members of the union by costing jobs.

It was a gloom and doom type of prediction.

I guess we see what happens Monday when the strike results are announced. I looked but did not see any speculation as to what that might be.

Not only is there the threat of a rail strike, but the price of milk has shot up!!

The Bild am Sonntag has a fairly insulting headline aimed at both Mehrdorn and Schell. Das Duell der Dickköpfe

For those of you who do not read German, a Dickkopf is a thick head or a mulehead or a bullhead or a pighead. (You get the message.) Mehdorn has the nickname of Dampfwalze -- steam roller.

Schell is known as „Rumpelstilzchen“/

Another quote: Mehdorn und Schell gelten als Dickköpfe, nachgeben will keiner.

This says that they have to be considered thickheads and neither one will backdown.

Schell said he expected the pro strike vote to be 90% + X in favor.
He also used terms like "lahmzulegen" in describing what the strike could do to the rail system. The term can translate as paralyze or tie up.

So it sounds like the immovable object has met the irresistable force.
I asked a physicist friend of mine what would happen in such a case and he said simply: Chaos.

I have an idea, one related to physics.
Take Mehdorn and Schell to the super collider at Cern near Geneva.

Fire them in opposite directions around the ring and let them meet head on at super velocity. That should result in some interesting sub atomic particles.

Might even get some more evidence of the top quark. Doubt if any beauty or charm quarks will show up.

This Spiegel article, if I understand it, has the GDL leader saying they will paralyze the system. The DB head is saying they can train people. I'm not sure if it has anything different than what Bob has already posted, but just in case:
http://tinyurl.com/2ptalf

In a german chatroom, there are a couple of engine drivers (GDL members) who expressed that they wished that their leader is more realistic than demanding a 31% salary rate increase. They see him as creating a big problem for them.

according to the initial reports, the GDL membership voted overwhelmingly to strike.

The first strikes will take place on Wednesday.

The matter is being considered by two labor courts.

If they grant a temporary injunction forbidding the strike,

Author: tonymalyh
Date: 08/02/2007, 02:01 pm

We are flying into Dusseldorf, GE ON 8/14/07 and planned on using the DE BAHN rail tickets bought in advance for the most economical transportation. We are going to
Hohenlimburg,Remstadt, Barsinghausen,Uslar,Borkum for a week, then Hohenlimburg, Oberhausen and Herdecke, and back to Duesseldorf all in 3 weeks time.
Now that rail strikes are set to start on 8/6/07, we are wodering whether it would be bettet to rent a car?

It's official, the strike will start wednesday. >75% supporters. Press conference in 45 minutes at 13:15 hours (CEST).

We were planning on taking the train from the Munich airport to downtown, would that route be affected by the strike?

The details will be announced 24h before, so they say. Of course, if I were a union member, the airport lines would be on top of the list