German Rail: Between Squeezed Workers and Fed-up Passengers
When German trains run late, there are multiple frustrated customers, temper tantrums and sometimes attacks on transit workers.
This is the stress of working in public transportation, where everything is high stakes. Maintaining reliable transport times, informing customers about problems with departures and arrivals, and making sure the system runs as smoothly as possible are all essential to prevent the system from breaking down.
And that’s during the best of times. During strikes, chaos ensues.
One of the largest strikes in decades in Germany took place in March, when 400,000 Deutsche Bahn transportation workers walked off their jobs. The “mega-strike” — as it was dubbed in the German press — paralyzed most of the country’s trains, trams, buses and ferries, as well as some airports. Although the strike lasted only 24 hours, the unions have threatened further walkouts, which could still disrupt the summer holiday season.
Deutsche Bahn was established in 1994, created through a merger between the West-German Bundesbahn and the GDR-based Reichsbahn to run regional, intercity and high-speed ICE trains. It operates in 130 countries, but is based in Berlin.
Two unions have been leading the transport strikes — the trade union Eisenbahn-und Verkehrsgewerkschaft (EVG), which represents railway workers, and Ver.di with bus and airline workers. A 50-hour strike planned for May was called off at the last minute.
The unions are demanding wage increases of up to 12 percent, which they say are needed for workers to keep up with the inflation unleashed by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“Our workers are squeezed by the pressure from inflation,” said Volker Nüsse, a spokesman for Ver.di, which represents 150,000 workers in the transport sector, “They are caught in the middle.”
Inflation is hammering the rail and transit system from all directions. Transit companies are being hit by rising fuel costs at a time they face demands to keep down wages, lest they contribute to more inflation.
Although Germany’s official inflation rate is 6.4 percent, the union says that its workers are seeing their household costs– food and energy– rising by as much as 30 percent.
There is a vicious cycle. Workers go on strike because they need better pay to meet these rising costs. Customers can’t get where they need to go because of stalled transportation.
While the union and railway company have been going head-to-head in the media, the burdens of negotiations have trickled down to workers, causing tension not only with management but among workers themselves. Some are more concerned about loyalty to their bosses, while others want to enforce unity among workers.
Justin L., a 28-year-old front desk manager for Deutsche Bahn, has a foot in both of these worlds. He has been at the company for six years, and his mother also works for the company in a more senior position, so he feels loyal to DB.
“It’s been very stressful,” said Justin, who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that his surname not be published. “It’s been very stressful between coworkers in and not in the union. Those not in the union have to make up for the work of those in the union.”
Differences in generations between workers have also been driving divisions during strike times. Most of the older generation are against the strikes or don’t participate in them at all, while younger workers are pushing harder to strike.
And it’s not only for economic reasons.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, customers have gotten more aggressive with workers. Justin says one of his co-workers was attacked with an ax. In March this year, Deutsche Bahn told employees to wear body cameras because of the assaults.
To relieve pressure from workers, the union has tried centering its campaigns on a more humane approach, reminding customers to treat staff with respect.
“One of the things the union is trying to do with a general strike is [convey] that they are just people too. If trains are delayed, they are also just humans [running them],” said Justin.
Once the largest railway company in the world, Deutsche Bahn serves an estimated 2 billion customers annually. In the past it was considered the pride of Germany, boasting that 95 percent of trains ran on schedule. But in recent years, the on-time rate dropped as low as 30 percent at one point in 2018, according to the German news service, Deutsche Welle.
Germany’s transportation system has been challenged by an aging workforce, chronic shortages of new workers and the COVID pandemic.
Strike waves have spread throughout Europe, caused by the same economic factors. Train and airport industries are the most affected by walk-outs. In July, London Underground workers made plans to walk out in response to poor wages and unsustainable working conditions. That strike was averted when talks resumed. Airport workers in Geneva were on strike in June and airport workers across Italy in mid-July, stranding passengers in the height of summer.
While America dodged a railway strike scare in December 2022 after President Joe Biden and the U.S. Senate passed legislation on a contract deal for railway unions, the threat of strikes remains, and could prove detrimental to the economy in the U.S.
A nationwide Labor shortage is at an alarming high, with 1.9 million fewer Americans working today compared to February of 2020, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Inflation has cooled down considerably over the last 12 months, but costs are still high and burdensome on Americans.
Compared to the United States and most of Europe, labor relations are more harmonious in Germany. The strike in March was the largest in Germany since the 1990s. Negotiations tend to resolve more quickly, and union representatives have closer eyes on the transportation companies than is the case in other highly-connected countries across the globe.
But passengers everywhere are fed up. Angelina Semenko, a 23-year student from Ukraine, complains that her in-person classes were suspended during the most recent strike and students were told to remain at home. Now living in Germany, she has noticed “shocking” difference in transportation. “I’m from Ukraine, this doesn’t usually happen for us. It was not a normal thing.”
Accessibility beyond Germany’s major cities is also a problem. For suburbanites, public transportation is insufficient. When trains are delayed or canceled, people are stuck.
Simone May, 50, said that she had an important business trip scheduled during the last strike. She booked a car to be on the safe side, but when the strike was called off and the trains were running again, she couldn’t get a refund for her train ticket.
“They need to increase the service,” May said. “They need more trains and more direct connections. If you live outside [Berlin], it is really hard to reach the city.”
Frustrated customers are leaving DB behind, and some of them for good. A team of three researchers from Kiel University found that bus ticket sales increased during railway strikes, and that these customers rarely switched back to using their original mode of transportation.
“Strikes have costs,” said Levke Jessen-Thiesen, one of the Kiel researchers. “They have a cost for Deutsche Bahn in terms of losing customers in the long-term.”
A key takeaway from research is that customers, especially price-sensitive individuals, don’t want to experiment with new systems. Then, when they are forced to switch and get used to a new system, it is difficult to lure them back. Now that buses are cheaper, there is less incentive to switch back.
Still, there are solutions that can win back these customers — mainly lowering costs and making booking easier. “Reliability is key,’’ said Jessen-Thiesen. She also stresses the importance of diverse modes of transport. “Competition is a good thing.”
The bus system faces the same hurdles as the railways in that a labor shortage is forcing existing drivers to work long hours and inconvenient schedules. High rates of illness have exacerbated the labor shortage, putting more pressure on bus drivers to work long hours for less pay.
“They are working 15 hours, and only getting paid for six,’’ said Volker Nüsse, the negotiator for the Ver.di union.
During COVID-19, workers were stretched especially thin. “There was no lockdown for the workers,” Nüsse explained. “Otherwise, nurses couldn’t get to the hospital.” One of Ver.di’s demands was to put up a glass divider to protect drivers.
The unions are now seeking creative solutions to build public support for their workers. Earlier this year, Ver.di organized a joint warning strike with the climate-focused activist group “Fridays for Future.” The idea was to enlist support among environmentally conscious Germans for the higher wages and better working conditions necessary for a functional public transit system.
Discussions with Fridays for Future had begun in 2019, and the two groups wanted to transform how the public viewed labor rights when tied to a pressing global issue. “Our aim was to achieve real change,” Nüsse said.
Other climate activists are also joining in the conversion about mass transit. Leander Grasmeier is a member of Germany’s “Last Generation,” a movement of young environmentalists, who says their interests coincide. “I think these fights are the same. I think these topics have to be fought together.”
Part of the discussion is how to keep the infrastructure from crumbling. The transportation sector in Germany is also lagging behind other European countries in infrastructure spending. Allianz Pro Schiene (Pro Rail Alliance) is a non-profit that promotes eco-friendly transport through railways and is leading a campaign to boost government investment.
“We need big renovations,” said Bernard Knierim, a former biophysicist working for Allianz. “There’s not enough money to maintain infrastructure.”
Germany has spent almost half as much money on public transport as other well-connected European countries like Luxembourg, which has led to inadequate intercity and regional transport, according to Knierim.
“If we really want to take this problem seriously, we have to have a lot more radical change,’’ Knierim said.
Grace Medecki is an undergraduate student at UC Santa Barbara majoring in Communication. She is in Berlin this summer reporting for ieiMedia’s “Berlin Beyond Borders” publication.
