The lame duck: Who is GDL boss Claus Weselsky?

Rail strike - The lame duck: Who is GDL boss Claus Weselsky?

20 hours of strike action: before the first round of negotiations between Deutsche Bahn and the German Train Drivers' Union(GDL) has even begun, rail traffic has been at a standstill since Wednesday evening - once again. And the head of the GDL is once again in the spotlight: "We have to build up pressure," said Claus Weselsky, explaining the reason for the walkout. For rail travelers, the native Saxon is once again becoming an irritant. Who is the man who has been pushing Deutsche Bahn and his relatively small union in front of him for years?

GDL boss Claus Weselsky: belligerent, unyielding, a trade unionist through and through

Weselsky was born in Dresden in 1959, the youngest of three children in a working-class family. His parents initially worked as "new farmers", having been reallocated land that had been expropriated in the GDR. Later, they both trained as streetcar drivers. Weselsky followed in their footsteps: after completing polytechnic secondary school, he trained as a rail vehicle fitter in the mid-1970s and became a locomotive driver for the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Initially as a shunting engine driver, he was later also allowed to drive freight trains and eventually passenger and express trains.

He was never in the SED, something he is still proud of today. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it quickly became clear that Weselsky had political talent: he became involved in the re-established train drivers' union in Pirna near Dresden and became its chairman in 1990. From this point on, he quickly made a career in the GDL. In 1992, he became deputy district chairman and thus a member of the main executive board. In 2002, Deutsche Bahn released him completely from his union duties. Weselsky joined the Federal Executive Board in Frankfurt am Main as a member of the collective bargaining department. For two years, he was the second man behind Chairman Manfred Schell.

Weselsky finally became chairman of the GDL in 2008. But even though he was elected to office with 90 percent of the vote, criticism was voiced early on - even internally. When Weselsky dismissed his two deputies because he had clashed with them, Schell accused him of having an "authoritarian management style" and even resigned his honorary chairmanship of the GDL. Weselsky explained that those dismissed had mixed professional and private interests.

The "firebrand from Saxony", as the "Financial Times Deutschland" called him, is the undisputed leader of the union. Despite its relatively small size, Weselsky has managed to turn the GDL into one of the most powerful unions in the country. In collective bargaining rounds, he regularly pushes Deutsche Bahn in front of him, which has not only won him friends.

Loyalty, it seems, is above all else for Weselsky. And it has already become clear several times who he is loyal to: his colleagues in the driver's cabs. He resisted the call of big money back in 2007 when he turned down the offer to move to the other side and thus to the personnel board of Deutsche Bahn.

Claus Weselsky: chain dog and patron saint in one

Criticism that he is holding the whole country hostage with his strikes is apparently bouncing off him. He is a stroke of luck for the GDL. Chain dog and patron saint in one. Even if many rail travelers have probably often seen it differently. As reported by the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung", a tabloid newspaper printed his cell phone number in 2014 during a four-day strike - dozens of angry rail customers called. Weselsky kept a cool head and simply activated call forwarding - to the number of Rüdiger Grube, head of Deutsche Bahn at the time.

While many members of the GDL celebrate him for such an action, rail passengers in particular repeatedly accuse him of being egocentric and unwilling to negotiate. It is well known that he is a tough negotiator. You could call him "uncompromising", even though it is actually his job to find those compromises.

Weselsky now also lives off his reputation for being a tough guy. A strike before the first round of negotiations, such as this Wednesday, supports this observation. He is a strategist, a man of power, a trade unionist through and through. But above all a fighter for labor. Nice promises are not enough to get him to the negotiating table - and not enough to get the railroads back on track.

Sources: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau,Hans Böckler Foundation