News / Union members on DB board set to vote against DSV sale

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DSV’s looming purchase of DB Schenker continues to receive strong pushback from employees – now trade union EVG has confirmed it will vote against the sale.

Tomorrow, Deutsche Bahn’s supervisory board, which includes union members, will vote on the sale of the logistics division, and while the union votes are not sufficient to stop the deal, their show of opposition will put pressure on other board members.

EVG chair Martin Burkert said: “After 153 years, DB Schenker is to disappear. This means that value creation and jobs are lost. This harms Germany as a business location.

“Politics and the rail board want to sell as a ‘strategy’. However, sustainable business policy looks different. For many years, DB Schenker was the guarantor of a reasonably tolerable annual group financial statement.

“The fact that money can continue to be made with DB Schenker is shown by the great interest of the bidder.”

And sources close to the deal said the union’s opinion remained “very important and very powerful” when it came to public opinion,  DB being state-owned, this would influence the board, which, the union added, must also take into consideration that DB Schenker has been a “cash cow” and selling it may leave “gaping holes”.

All of which has purportedly resulted in some around the supervisory board table questioning the sale process and where it may leave them.

The union is also concerned “that there is no legally secure guarantee to use the sale proceeds for debt relief at Deutsche Bahn”, it said.

“This is the only way the company can use its own funds for vehicles and, above all, for operational quality in the future. Deutsche Bahn must no longer be used as a cash cow for a failed federal budget policy.”

Meanwhile, the other interested party, CVC, remains in the background after its offer was rejected by DB management in favour of the DSV proposal. It has declined to comment on this latest development. But it appears to be keeping a close eye on proceedings and has commissioned an assessment of whether the bidding process was in line with EU rules on fairness and transparency.