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Transport, Service, Networks

Our trade union continues to organise staff in the transport sector—guards on long-distance trains, engine drivers of any type, or bus drivers from the former Bundesbahn bus companies. However, changes in transport and German railways as well as the creation of independent areas within the industry have placed more importance on the service approach.

TRANSNET organises service staff, from service desk personnel at stations to cleaning or security companies working for the railways. And network refers not more than just the railway network—we also represent the staff at Arcor and DB Telematik; the “network” term also refers to them. Our members go beyond railway workers.

Competition Means Taking New Approaches

The expectations placed on TRANSNET are changing and will continue to change. With increasing competition in Germany, with national boundaries within Europe dissolving and with increasing globalisation, working conditions are changing—for every single person and for our union. Europeanisation in competition and globalisation on the railway market are increasing in an unstoppable trend. This development has to be directed, and we must contribute to setting the direction. This is the only way to represent and achieve the interests of the staff that we represent.

Together in Europe

That is why TRANSNET is not alone in Europe. Together with our partner unions, our union is a committed member of the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF). In the railways section, for example, we are holding negotiations with the Community of European Railways (CER). On the one hand, we have to look for common goals. Both ETF and CER constantly seek dialogue with the politicians in Brussels and Strasbourg. Politics must ensure that investment is made in the entire European rail network. If we want working communications, we need a modern network.

On the other hand, along with our mutual quest for the most ecologically sensible means of transport, we have to campaign for the interests of the employees. Naturally, these negotiations between the social partners ETF and CER are not always harmonious. Together with our partner unions, our European goal remains to draw up unified policies for the needs of our colleagues as Europe constantly draws closer together.

We will be discussing European union pay agreement policies; we shall need European works councils. As companies expand, mergers and acquisitions set the tone across Europe and the world. Our work for the interests of the workers must not lag behind the employers’ quest for profit.

For that reason we are working towards this development. TRANSNET is the largest transport trade union in Europe. Taking a leading role in joint negotiations with our partners is our obligation and duty. We need firm cooperation with other European unions.

Together Across Frontiers

TRANSNET’s international effort includes our activity within the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). Companies have long since been active beyond Europe’s boundaries. Management has always aimed at turning their companies into global players, and the employees must find their place in the global activities. The ITF is well-placed for this. Its role will become stronger in the future. This inevitably means taking on more responsibility.

The Origins

TRANSNET was formed over 100 years ago, at that time as an association of railwaymen. The first railway workers’ trade union on German soil was created in Hamburg on 8 December 1896.

Consolidation under the Nazis brought it to an end on 2 May 1933—all free trade unions in Germany were forced under the yoke of the Nazis. The union was re-established after World War II, on 25 March 1948, this time as the Gewerkschaft der Eisenbahner Deutschlands (GdED) [Union of German Railwaymen].

Our members included the founder members of the German association of trade unions, the Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB). The East German union, the Gewerkschaft der Eisenbahner (GdE), joined the then GdED on 24 October 1990, three weeks after reunification, forming the first railway workers’ trade union for all of Germany since the war.

Careers and Organisation

TRANSNET currently has over 250,000 members. Our union represents a total of 100 careers and job descriptions. They range from engine drivers to Scandlines captains on the Baltic to network planners and trouble shooters at the Arcor telecommunications company, the snow cat driver on the snowy peaks of the German Alps and the travel consultant in the travel agency. They include employees of the German Railways just as much as the staff of over 280 other railway companies.

Even public employees at the railways’ holding company, the Federal Office for Railways, and at the Bahn-BKK HMO are members of the TRANSNET union.

Collective bargaining

Naturally, collective bargaining policy is TRANSNET’s main business. The union deals with over 200 partners in forging pay agreements. Where there used to be virtually only one company, the fused Deutsche Bundesbahn and the Deutsche Reichsbahn, there are now almost 300 railway companies on Germany’s railway system.

We must take a creative approach to these expectations in our collective bargaining policy. It is not enough to reach tariff agreements at local level. A universal collective agreement seems to be the only way to prevent wage-dumping and social marginalisation in the competition. Our union negotiates over a hundred wage agreements a year for its members, covering pay, working hours, and bonuses, ensuring jobs and representing interests in individual companies. TRANSNET’s collective bargaining policies are documented in many individual contracts that are as flexible and as modern as unified collective bargaining interests can allow.

Our members take part in the process. In regional negotiations, our members discuss and prepare their demands in wage agreement policy. TRANSNET can provide documentation showing that wage agreement autonomy has proved effective in Germany. Continuous attacks on wage agreement autonomy, especially from certain political corners and employers’ associations, are doomed to failure. Anybody who tries to disempower “union cartels” and set up wage negotiations in individual companies is aiming for more flexibility, but to curtail bargaining power and destroy the social dialogue that has proved successful. What methods should works councils use to push through their wage demands? Do we really need this battle for working hours, pay and holiday to be fought in the various companies? This is not how competition should work.


Co-determination

Active union work naturally includes engagement in works councils and staff representations. Almost 80% of work council members in the Bahn AG and other rail companies are members of TRANSNET. Our union won about 3,000 seats in the 2002 works council elections.

The representative bodies for young people and apprentices as well as for the disabled tell a similar story, and this is a demonstration of confidence. Our representatives have the difficult task of reconciling our members’ interests with those of the companies. At the same time, they are the contact persons for TRANSNET. TRANSMIT, our union’s training company, equips them to make intelligent, creative contributions on the works councils.

Work in various areas of the works council is part of it. Most of the representatives are TRANSNET candidates. Public limited companies are monitored by supervisory boards. Here, 130 of the staff representatives are members of our union. A massive show of trust, but also a great responsibility goes into, among other things, adopting accounts and agreeing plans.

Transport Policy

TRANSNET is involved in forging transport policy. The employees’ interests cannot be represented without healthy participation in the political arena. After all, jobs depend on, among other things, Federal investment in the rail network or the funds for regional transport made available by the Germany’s federal regions. That is why our union always has a contribution to make when, for example, the transport budget is under debate in parliament. However, transport policy cannot ignore the competitive environment: where taxes are concerned there are many imbalances in comparison with other means of transport.

Alliances for fair Transport Policies

The pro Schiene alliance was set up in June 2000 on the initiative of our union. 16 associations belong to it, and there are 35 supporting members. The first association lobbying for the interests of the most ecologically sensible means of transport supports fair transport policies. Environmental organisations, automobile clubs, unions and not least railway companies and businesses are part of this alliance. This alliance makes sense, it has a voice, and it is already part of transport policy culture. The railways need supporters because tomorrow’s mobility depends on them. Let us not forget that freight transport alone is expected to rise by over 60 per cent by 2015.

Policy for public employees

Policy for government officials remains central to our union’s activity. Over 50,000 staff of the German railways are government officials. Their interests must be represented effectively. The difficult balance between the law on public employees and private enterprise must be regulated. TRANSNET makes its contribution in cooperation with the works councils.

Social Policy

TRANSNET is active and plays a part in railway workers’ autonomous bodies. Naturally the radical changes our society is undergoing are at the top of the list. Be it debates over pensions or discussion on new directions in health and tax policies. In Germany reform epitomises fear. The fault lies at the feet of the politicians concerned. It is evidently always a matter of cutting, of reducing, of lessening. Reforms must not be at the expense of the workers. That is why TRANSNET gets involved. We are seeking a society in which the burden is spread fairly.

TRANSNET in the German Association of Trade Unions, the DGB

One trade union cannot stand alone. TRANSNET is a member of the Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund. Our union is involved in everything carried out by the association. At about eight million members, the DGB plays a decisive role in our country—even if there is talk of the DGB’s decreasing influence due to falling membership figures. Nevertheless, there is hardly any discussion on collective bargaining, or on social, job market or economic policy without active DGB involvement, making the DGB a key figure in representing the interests of people in and out of work in Germany. The DGB has also forged close partnerships and often alliances with individual unions on certain subjects. So, for example, TRANSNET has concluded a cooperation agreement with IG Metall, the German metal workers’ union, on the subject of railway construction and maintenance work. The union also closely cooperates with ver.di, NGG, IG BAU and GdP. Since 2002, our union has been working with GDBA, which is part of the Deutscher Beamtenbund, the German public employees’ association.

Representatives: Leveragers in the Company

The union representatives (VPs) constitute an important arm of TRANSNET within the companies in our organisation. About 7,500 of our colleagues do volunteer work for our union. Besides their regular work, they liaise for TRANSNET. Multiregional, regional and local VP committees ensure that the channels of communication with each other stay open. Together with the works councils, the VPs liaise with the union’s members in the company.

Structure of TRANSNET

The board is now represented by two head offices, on in Frankfurt am Main and one in Berlin. The reason is that many rail companies have their offices in Frankfurt, while others have moved to the German capital, which is specifically where Federal transport policy is made.

The highest body is the national union conference which meets every four years. It sets out the guidelines for TRANSNET’s policies and work. The delegates elect the board. The national union conference is followed by our union’s 15 regional conferences and the Federal women’s, youth and senior citizens’ conferences as well as the works and staff councils, then the local delegates’ conferences that may also put motions to the national union conference. Among the national union conferences, the advisory board is the highest decision-making body and meets twice a year. TRANSNET is divided into 15 regions.

Our members are represented by 170 local offices from Niebüll in the north to Lindau in the south, from Aachen in the west to Frankfurt/Oder in the east. The service offices that TRANSNET has set up all over the country are also increasing in importance. Nationally, there are service offices in 11 larger cities.

Membership

Membership of TRANSNET is open to people who work in any transport company or companies belonging to Deutsche Bahn AG, the German Railways, or companies serving their social infrastructure. The monthly membership subscription fee is 1 % of gross pay, while apprentices pay 0.5 % and pensioners pay 0.7% of their pension.

Members are entitled to a wide range of benefits that include legal cost coverage for both work-related and private disputes. The subscription also covers accident insurance outside work. We also provide educational sessions and seminars.

TRANSNET Organisations

Our union’s unit for education and advancement, Bildungs- und Förderungswerk (BFW), supplies literature on a number of subjects ranging from computer literary to technical railway transport matters. The TRANSMIT and TRANSBIT training units organise all TRANSNET’s training, which includes training for members of works and staff councils as well as seminars on general political or social subjects. For example, Europ-Camp in Eze sur Mer directly overlooks Monaco. The house is mainly available for young people.

Haus Hammersbach is TRANSNET’s holiday hotel. It is in a picturesque location at the bottom of the Zugspitze and can be used for training and recreation. Haus Hammersbach has all the comforts of a modern hotel including swimming bath, sauna and a spa centre.