German rail passengers face the prospect of more travel disruption after wage talks between Deutsche Bahn AG and the EVG labor union broke down without agreement.
The union, which represents about 180,000 employees at the state rail company, said the 27-month length of the deal on the table is “clearly too long” and the wage hike being offered “too low and too late.”
“The EVG board will decide tomorrow in Berlin how to proceed,” the union’s negotiator, Kristian Loroch, said in a brief statement late Wednesday.
Industrial action has gained momentum in Germany and other European nations in recent months, with union officials pushing for significant wage deals to offset a surge in living costs. The EVG is demanding a 12% wage hike with a 12-month duration.
Martin Seiler, a member of the Deutsche Bahn management board, called EVG’s move “unbelievable” and accused the union of discarding “an almost-completed agreement” and setting the talks “back to zero shortly before the finish.”
“The ones who suffer are our employees and our passengers,” Seiler said in a statement. “We negotiated intensively, wrestled hard and reached many partial agreements,” he added. “Now it’s all off the table again.”
The company urged EVG negotiators to “reach a good solution quickly” and said it “remains willing to talk and negotiate.”
