2024-08-08 07:14:57
Deutsche Bahn wants to cut 30,000 jobs in the coming years. Weselsky fears that this is happening in the wrong places and is calling for a change in management.
In view of high losses and plans to cut jobs at Deutsche Bahn, the head of the train drivers’ union GDL, Claus Weselsky, has called for a change in the management of the state-owned company. “DB needs a new top management so that there is a new management culture,” he told the “Welt” newspaper. In his opinion, the current structure in the company does not do justice to the employees or the requirements of the company.
From 1999 onwards, a “corporate culture that was far removed from the business world emerged, in which only yes-men who implemented orders from above were put into management positions,” Weselsky told the “Welt”. Nothing has changed in recent years, which is why the “problems that arose as a result” have become more severe and the “ever-increasing chaos from above is being responded to with ever greater pressure.”
Weselsky demanded that Deutsche Bahn executives should be “forced” to make their business trips by train instead of by car or plane. “If only so that they can experience first-hand what the situation is like for the company and its employees,” he told “Welt”.
In the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” the GDL boss sharply criticized DB’s plans to cut 30,000 jobs in the coming years. “I’m not against job cuts. But not in the way they are being done now.” Weselsky fears cuts in trains, workshops and signal boxes: “In administration, they use the natural fluctuation, move things around a bit – but the real savings are in the operational area. That’s how it always is,” he continued.
When presenting the half-yearly balance sheet, Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz and CFO Levin Holle announced that they wanted to cut around 30,000 jobs over the next five years – initially in administration. According to union reports, they are also considering employing only two instead of five train attendants on long-distance trains in the future, regardless of length and capacity.
“That has long been a sad reality,” Weselsky told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung.” The trains have been “understaffed for years. That is the real reason for the current rebellion of the people.” In recent days, the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” has been able to view a number of internal chats and forum posts from employees complaining about the conditions in the railway’s operations, and employees have also contacted the “SZ” directly. “People have different opposition,” said Weselsky. “I notice that passive resistance is now turning into active resistance.”