The union is putting pressure on politicians: the promised law for stricter penalties for assaults on train staff must reach the Bundestag this year, Burkert said. Otherwise, operations would be brought to a standstill in January. He referred to the violent death of a train attendant six months ago and criticized that politicians had only shown affected faces but had not followed up with action.
Train attendant Serkan Çalar was attacked and fatally injured by a passenger in a regional express in early February. The perpetrator was sentenced to ten years in prison for bodily harm resulting in death. Burkert stressed that the government was engaging in work refusal, and rail workers were paying for it with their health or lives. He appealed: “The politicians have forgotten Serkan. We have not.”
Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) had previously stated that safety on trains was a basic prerequisite for a functioning public transport system. He announced talks within the government to achieve higher penalties for attacks on train attendants. Ralf Damde, chairman of the central works council at DB Regio, threatened: If the law continues to gather dust in the ministry, the works councils would refuse to approve the duty rosters – political deadlock would then become a rail standstill.
Source: www.sueddeutsche.de
