class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>
The name Claus Weselsky (64) is a red flag for many Germans. The boss of the train drivers’ union GDL has virtually paralyzed the entire country in recent weeks with railway strikes lasting a total of 120 hours to enforce his demands for shorter working hours and higher wages at the same time. The chance of success is high: Deutsche Bahn will negotiate with you next week.
In an interview with Blick, the great critic becomes a great admirer of Swiss public transport. Weselsky talks about how he himself has enjoyed its benefits and why he would never crack down on grievances in Switzerland as hard as he does in Germany.
Blick: Claus Weselsky, for fear of a railway strike, I flew to you in Berlin for this interview. However, the airport employees struck here on Thursday and the regional transport companies struck on Friday, meaning my return flight had to be postponed. What is actually going on in Germany?
Claus Weselski: From the outside, of course, it looks like a country is in turmoil. But the various strikes have nothing to do with each other. It is a coincidental chain because collective labor agreements now expire one after the other and negotiations are therefore taking place in different sectors.
The train drivers’ strikes that you organized had the greatest impact nationally. Millions of commuters were stranded and the economy suffered billions of dollars in damage. Isn’t it irresponsible to hold an entire country “hostage”, as the media writes?
When we get to the point where industrial action is described as taking hostages, it is both unfortunate and telling. Finally, during privatization in 1993, politicians abolished civil servant status and introduced the right to strike. The strike is our leverage for consolidation, because the privatization and dismantling of the railway in individual parts has continuously reduced wages, which many politicians do not understand.
Claus Weselsky (64), who grew up in the GDR, has been chairman of the German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) since 2008, which has more than 40,000 members. The trained diesel engine mechanic and operator leads the union with an iron fist. His predecessor Manfred Schell (80) accused him of an authoritarian leadership style and resigned from the honorary chairmanship of the GDL in protest in 2013. However, Weselsky enjoys strong support in the GDL and is inundated with requests for signatures. The media describe Weselsky as the “most hated German” because of his painful attacks. He is a member of the CDU but has no plans to enter politics after stepping down as leader of the GDL in the fall. He lives near Dresden, is married for the second time and has an adult son.
Claus Weselsky (64), who grew up in the GDR, has been chairman of the German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) since 2008, which has more than 40,000 members. The trained diesel engine mechanic and operator leads the union with an iron fist. His predecessor Manfred Schell (80) accused him of an authoritarian leadership style and resigned from the honorary chairmanship of the GDL in protest in 2013. However, Weselsky enjoys strong support in the GDL and is inundated with requests for signatures. The media describe Weselsky as the “most hated German” because of his painful attacks. He is a member of the CDU but has no plans to enter politics after stepping down as leader of the GDL in the fall. He lives near Dresden, is married for the second time and has an adult son.
You are also considered the “most hated man in Germany”. How do you live with this reputation?
Apparently a bogeyman is needed to bring justice to the drivers. I’m doing this for the umpteenth time now. But it is also important to note that public opinion does not always agree with published opinion. Many employees would be happy to have such a strong union behind them.
The German FDP demands that train drivers be replaced by artificial intelligence. Will operators soon become redundant?
The question of how the trains can run fully automatically has not yet been clarified. You should also keep in mind that an operator who transports 800 passengers or 2,000 tons of goods is very economically efficient. And anyone who dreams of automating the work of a train driver can assume that a railway will be controlled by digital signal boxes – just as combat drones are controlled from command centers today.
In Germany, train punctuality is 64 percent, in Switzerland 92.5 percent. What’s going wrong with railway technology in Germany?
It is clear: there is mismanagement. What we are witnessing is the crushing of a railway system. The dream was to make huge profits through privatization and IPO. No one was overseeing the whole thing; funds were misused for decades. Privatization has led to disaster.
Where was the wrong investment made?
Deutsche Bahn, for example, has made investments at the end of the world. They are building a new route in Venezuela and we do regional transport in Toronto. We operate all over the world, but have no control over our own rail system. Deutsche Bahn has people at the top who do not come from specialists, but are strongly influenced by Lufthansa or infiltrated by the car lobby.
A few days ago you publicly praised the Swiss railway system. What is better?
In Switzerland, a referendum states that public transport will be promoted. Billions are used to expand infrastructure. The merger of railways, buses and trams works because it is controlled and strategically developed by an authority that also deserves the name, namely the Federal Office of Transport. Furthermore, I find it remarkable that people are not afraid to replace people at the highest level if something goes wrong.
What experiences have you personally had in Switzerland?
We were hiking in the mountains and had the wrong distance. Then I look at an app and take a post bus that takes me to the regional train in the valley. I’m going back to where we started without a car in a coherent system. I think that’s great. We would never have something like that.
Switzerland is also more manageable in terms of size, making public transport easier to coordinate.
Small doesn’t mean easier. The system in Switzerland is very complicated due to geography. And what can be achieved on a small scale can easily be transferred to a large scale.
Is Switzerland your role model when it comes to railways?
Absolute. I admire the foresight with which the public transport system has been developed. As a transit country, Switzerland can also charge route fees without further ado; after all, the country has invested billions, if not trillions, in recent years in exemplary infrastructure. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is ingenious. And I understand that the SBB no longer allows delayed ICE trains from Germany to travel to Switzerland. Because every railway worker knows that this is the only way to protect the system, which suffers from every imported delay.
But not everything works in Switzerland either. Two trains in a row from Lucerne to Zurich were canceled last week.
The timetable is very tight. Whenever I attended a meeting, we would go out to dinner in Bern afterwards. Around midnight everyone took the train in their own direction. For us, the connection between capital Berlin and media city Leipzig ends at eight or half past seven.
Moreover, operators in Switzerland work 41 hours and not just 35 hours, as you demand of your people.
You can’t compare apples and oranges. Swiss train drivers do not have to accept such high compression levels at work. They also have a different income and living level than their German colleagues. We have a big problem here finding young people. The 35-hour working week is our idea to make shift work more attractive.
The SBB lures German train drivers with “Do something big, move to Switzerland with us”. Does this poaching upset you?
No, I can actually only recommend this to my colleagues because they are only experiencing great frustration in Germany at the moment – thanks to these rivets in pinstripes.
Do you have contact with Swiss trade unions?
I regularly attend the general meeting of the Association of Swiss Train Drivers and Candidates (VSLF), which takes place every year in a different location. This year in the bright sun in Brig. It was fantastic.
Drivers in Switzerland are also dissatisfied, for example because the journey times have been extended. Should Switzerland prepare for strikes if you were the union boss?
I would never organize a train driver’s strike in Switzerland – because in Switzerland I experience what we used to have here, namely a high degree of acceptance of the honorable profession of driver. In Germany we are witnessing an Americanization that tries to create cleaning wipes for the nation under the name of ‘service idea’. Overall, the Swiss value structure is more consensus-oriented. The focus is on the verbal debate and the insight into the need to retain motivated railway employees.
After negotiations with Deutsche Bahn this week, a peace obligation applies until March 3. Will you strike again if negotiations fail?
I only want to talk about this if we can’t reach a compromise. If I threatened a strike now, everyone would say that Weselsky does not want to achieve any results. It is important to us that a compromise is reached.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
