On the beginning of the up to now largest railway strike in the history of the German railways, Sahra Wagenknecht, member of the European Parliament of the executive of the party THE LEFT, declares:

As the strike at the Federal Railways shows, the strategy of the head of Deutsche Bahn Mehdorn has failed the whole way. Of course, he succeeded at times to play the employees of the railway against one another, and to enlist the leadership of the trade union Transnet by diverse concessions for a stock exchange listing of the railways. Yet, the train conductors now finally stopped the executive of Deutsche Bahn. They strike for fair wages and need to be supported in that strike.

The demand of the train conductors for 31% more wages may at first seem high, of course. On the other hand, the executive members of Deutsche Bahn increased their incomes between 1999 and 2005 from roughly 3.7 m. € to 14.7 m. € which is equivalent to an increase of almost 400 percent! Compared to that, the demands of the train conductors are almost modest – all the more so, since with an average net salary of just 1500 €, they receive, in contrast to Mehdorn & Co., anything else but luxurious incomes. Even in the European comparison, the train conductors of Deutsche Bahn are rather badly paid.

What needs to be taken into account is that the collective agreement the train conductors aim to get puts into question the principle of a unitary trade union. And the danger that the solidarity among the employees of one enterprise is weakened, when stronger and more active groups begin to negotiate their own collective agreements for themselves only, is quite real. However, one should not forget it is not the train conductors who can be made responsible for the present situation.

Quite positively, one should judge in any case that also thanks to the conductor strike the plans for the sale of the railway are for the time being put on ice. Because a strong and combative trade union that wants to share in the good result of the German Railway Inc should not be tasty at all to potential investors. Solidarity with the train conductors, therefore, also serves the struggle against railway privatisation that is rejected by 70 percent of the population. Because only in a common effort in which trade unions, social movements, and opponents of privatisation pull on one string, it can and will be possible to finally prevent the privatisation of Deutsche Bahn and to create instead an efficient, customer and employee-friendly public railway system.

Sahra Wagenknecht
November 14, 2007