Job cuts at the railway: Railway employees report staff shortages and work stress

The CEO of Deutsche Bahn has announced that a further 30,000 jobs will be cut. The plan is supported by the GDL and EVG unions. Railway employees in the administrative departments reported to the Railway Action Committee that they are already suffering from staff shortages and work stress.

Protest banner of railway employees against job cuts, DB Cargo Mainz, February 2024. The banner reads “Your shitty performance is costing us our jobs!”

In Berlin, Stuttgart, Duisburg and Frankfurt am Main, members of the action committee spoke to employees in the administration of Deutsche Bahn. They are the first to be hit. A total of 30,000 full-time jobs are to be cut at Deutsche Bahn over five years, announced Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz at the press conference on July 25.

The massive cuts are supported by the railway unions EVG and GDL. The train drivers' union GDL has expressly agreed to the job cuts “if they take place in administration and not in direct personnel”. [rail] The EVG works union is more cautious, but writes that it “fundamentally” supports the “efforts of the railway to question processes and structures within the company” as long as the “personnel adjustments … are planned and implemented in a socially acceptable manner.” In other words: the EVG will actively participate in the job cuts at the railway.

Both EVG and GDL have top representatives on the Deutsche Bahn supervisory board and are of course familiar with the strategy paper with the detailed cutback plans. However, they keep it carefully secret from the workforce and try to keep quiet so as not to cause unrest.

In all four cities where we spoke to railway employees, many reported that union representatives and works councils are downplaying the issue and remaining silent. “They don't tell us what's going on,” said a travel information employee in Frankfurt. And a technician said: “EVG and GDL don't want the workforce to discuss it.”

In a widely circulated statement calling on employees to “defend jobs and working conditions against the government, Deutsche Bahn, GDL and EVG”, the Bahn Action Committee describes the layoff plans as a “frontal attack on all Deutsche Bahn employees”, calls on administrative employees to join its fight to defend jobs and declares: “We will not allow ourselves to be divided.”

Almost all railway employees took a flyer with them, and many said it was important that someone took the initiative to stop the job cuts. However, the brief conversations also made it clear that no official body – neither management, works council nor union – was informing the workforce specifically about the plans. Some were not yet aware of the sword of Damocles hanging over them.

There have been repeated reports of the staff shortages that already exist in various departments: “We need to hire more people!” or “We are desperately looking for people,” was what many people said.

“Vacant positions have not been filled for a long time,” says an IT technician in Frankfurt am Main. “This leads to overtime and extra work and has consequences.” Numerous DB branches are located near Frankfurt Central Station, including DB Vehicle Maintenance, DB Systel (IT) and DB InfraGo (Infrastructure), as well as administration and training rooms.

One worker said: “We are the ones who create the timetables. We urgently need to hire people.” If one person is on vacation and another is sick, chaos is inevitable. A maintenance worker confirmed that the staff cuts have direct consequences: “If we can't keep up, the wagons won't be ready for use: then trains will be cancelled.”

In Duisburg, employees at the DB Netz operations center also reported a significant shortage of staff. From here, the railway controls and plans all freight and passenger traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia and beyond. Almost all departments and areas are understaffed, the employees reported. They often have to work overtime and even forego their days off.

At the same time, several people reported that a general hiring freeze was already in place, while others spoke of preparations for job cuts. In Stuttgart, an administrative employee reported anger and uncertainty in his company. The atmosphere was tense; he said: “Everyone is wondering who is on the list now.”

In Berlin, a young engineer at the Nordbahnhof S-Bahn depot reported that her contract as a trainee with Deutsche Bahn had expired at the end of August. And that after she had worked for the company for two years for 1,000 euros a month. “The contract will not be renewed,” she said. She will not get a permanent position either. She angrily pointed out that the same board that is now imposing a hiring freeze is itself collecting million-dollar bonuses. In fact, the DB board had received almost five million euros in bonuses at the end of 2023, with CEO Lutz alone receiving more than 1.2 million euros.

Numerous workers pointed out to us that the use of AI would destroy jobs. “Many of our colleagues are already afraid of it,” said the worker who draws up timetables in Frankfurt. An administrative employee in Berlin also reported on attempts to carry out planning processes more using AI. She said: “But the attempts so far have not worked at all.”

Jobs are already being cut in the service sector. A cleaner in Stuttgart reported that she and another person had to do the cleaning, making coffee, etc. on four floors where three people had previously been employed. The third colleague was taken off her team.

In Frankfurt, an older worker who has been with Deutsche Bahn for 43 years and has worked in rail operations for 25 years told us: “80 percent of the internal service jobs are given to subcontractors, as was reported at a company meeting. We already have temporary workers, and that is really exploitation. They get less pay, no holiday pay, no Christmas bonus, no travel allowance. That is not right!”

The same worker confirmed that a hiring freeze is already in place: “Young people who apply to DB are being turned away. Older employees are being pressured to retire early.”

Some EVG members and works council members also criticized the cutback plans and expressed their displeasure with the union. In Stuttgart, a works council member said she did not agree with the management collecting millions with the approval of the union representatives on the supervisory board. In Berlin, a rail worker said that the GDL was much more militant than the EVG. However, she was not aware that the GDL was agitating against the alleged “dead wood” in the administration and that GDL boss Weselsky had founded a temporary employment agency for train drivers.

The job cuts in administration are just the beginning. The planned reduction of 30,000 jobs will also affect employees on the tracks and in the stations. The planned massive staff cuts have also already begun at DB Cargo, where up to 1,800 job cuts are currently planned.

And at Duisburg Central Station, the conductor of an ICE train reported how she had to be responsible for an entire ICE train with just one other train attendant. If it were up to Deutsche Bahn, this would become the norm, she said. In a fully occupied ICE with 900 passengers, only two train attendants would have to manage the entire operation.

Many railway employees welcome the initiative of the Railway Action Committee to overcome the artificially created separation between the “productive” area and administration. In Frankfurt, the travel information employee told us: “I think it's terrible when people say that one part of the company is stealing jobs from the other.”

A technician working on future railway projects told us: “It is right that you want to overcome the divisions. Every job, no matter where, must be defended because everyone is important in their place. The railway is a large complex.” On Facebook, one worker wrote: “In the past, the railway workers, no matter which department, were a unit. Today it seems to me as if we are enemies.”

In Frankfurt, a young man who is training to be an operations manager said it was “an outrage to systematically cut jobs in times of a shortage of skilled workers.” It is well known that the DB has been cutting costs in the wrong places for decades: “Even during [German] “That was wrong during reunification and then in 1994 when DB was privatised. Critical infrastructure belongs in state hands,” he said. “The government stands there and says: We want a transport turnaround and fewer cars to protect the climate – and now we are cutting back on the railways again.” He promised to present the positions of the action committee on World Socialist Website.

The Rail Action Committee is committed in principle to defending all jobs. It demands:

· Instead of cutting jobs, 30,000 new employees must be hired. To achieve this, employees of all railway companies, whether on the rails, in freight transport, in technology or in administration, must join forces in order to be able to operate independently of EVG and GDL.

· The rights and needs of workers, including passengers, are more important than the profit interests of the government and investors, shareholders and speculators.

· Stop all military transport by rail! No weapons and ammunition for the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East or for the genocide in Gaza.

· International unity of all railway workers. Stop the privatization of state railways and all critical infrastructures.

Get in touch with us to help set up the action committee and contact us via WhatsApp at +49-163-337 8340 or register using the form below!

Job cuts at the railway: Railway employees report staff shortages and work stress

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