Nach neuem Gesetzentwurf: EVG zieht Streikdrohung im Nahverkehr zurück

Berlin - The railway and transport workers' union (EVG) has withdrawn its threat of strikes in public transport from January. "I am glad we won't have to cripple operations and go to extremes," said EVG chief Martin Burkert to newspapers of the Funke media group, referring to a draft law from the Justice Ministry. People who attack train staff and other employees will face tougher penalties in the future.

Prison terms will be at least six months for attackers, with a minimum of one year in especially severe cases. Currently, the minimum sentences are three or six months. The EVG had threatened nationwide strikes in regional transport as late as August, if the law was not passed in the Bundestag this year. "Our pressure works. At last, something is happening," said Burkert.

He welcomes that Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) together with Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) are pushing for a tightening of criminal law. On the first of February, train attendant Serkan Çalar was brutally attacked and fatally injured in a regional express by a passenger. The perpetrator was later sentenced to ten years in prison for causing serious bodily harm.

Violence must not become routine for train staff, Burkert said. The head of the works council at DB Regio, Ralf Damde, had also announced consequences. If the law is delayed further, the works councils would refuse to agree to the service schedules, he told "Bild am Sonntag". According to him, a train attendant is attacked statistically every day.