German railways agree above-inflation deal

In contrast to last year, when a pay dispute with train drivers went on for almost ten months, unions and management have reached a relatively rapid settlement on pay in 2009 for the 150,000 employed on the German railways.

At a time when prices are rising by 0.9%, the 18-month agreement provides for a 2.5% increase in February 2009 and a further 2.0% increase in January 2010. In addition, there is a one-off payment of €500 in December 2009 and improvement in the organisation of working time, including a guarantee of at least 12 free weekends a year, the dates of eight of which are to be fixed up to a year in advance.

The agreement between the unions and railway company Deutsche Bahn involved two separate sets of negotiations, one with the two largest unions Transnet and GDBA and one with the train drivers’ union GDL.

There were fears in advance that the negotiations would be difficult, as the personnel chief at Deutsche Bahn, Norbert Hansen, was until last year the head of the largest union Transnet. In the event a settlement came in the fourth round of negotiations.