Meeting of the European Works Council of DB AG in Berlin

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    • Meeting of the European Works Council of DB AG in Berlin

    Article: Meeting of the European Works Council of DB AG in Berlin

    Main topics of the meeting of the European Works Council of Deutsche Bahn AG held in Berlin on 23-26 February

    The dominant topic at the European Works Council meeting was the corporate restructuring at the DB Group and the possible partial privatisation of Schenker Logistics and Arriva.

    The information and consultation session held by Central Management, saw Dr. Grube, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG, provide the EWC with detailed information about the current status of these plans. He stated that a host of further measures and the partial sale of both subsidiaries DB Arriva and DB Schenker Logistics were being considered so that the Group could continue to fund investments.

    The members of the EWC made their concerns about partial privatisation clear and informed Dr. Grube about the worries that staff at Arriva and Schenker Logistics have.

    Dr. Grube stated that the DB Group would definitely retain a majority stake in Schenker and Arriva, and that the potential sale of shares in both subsidiaries would not result in job losses.  He added that the Group would continue to invest in both companies even following such a sale.

    The 2016 Group-wide employee survey was another topic under discussion. Ralf Kreihansl (Schenker Logistics Spain), Fred van Oort (DB Cargo Netherlands) and Tijs de Vries (Arriva Belgium) are the EWC's representatives in the joint preparatory group comprising Central Management, the Group Works Council and the European Works Council.

    Jørn Jessen (DB Cargo Denmark) gave a presentation on the Danish employee representation system to the EWC.

    A mobifair representative informed the EWC about the European citizens' action group "fair transport Europe". The EWC decided to study the issue and review the DB Group's terms for subcontractors.

    This regular EWC meeting was followed by part one of an intercultural training session for all EWC members.

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    The European Works Council of Deutsche Bahn AG currently has 42 members from 21 countries.

    The next meeting of the EWC will be held from 25-28 October 2016. The location of the meeting has not yet been decided.