Exberliner Issue 167, January 2018

TRAINS
ANONYMOUS
BVG: THE FACTS
Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
(BVG) was founded in 1928 by
Berlin’s then-Social Democratic
government to combine the
city’s local transport (except
for the Deutsche Bahn affiiliate
S-Bahn) under one roof.
Currently, it employs around
14,400 people, making it the
fourth largest employer in the
city behind Deutsche Bahn
and the Vivantes and Charité
hospitals. Even more workers
are used via subcontractors
for cleaning, ticket checking
and social media.
The city provides the BVG with
about €300 million per year in
public funding. Wages at the
BVG start around €1600/month
for a full-time position of 39
hours a week, meaning a takehome
pay of around €1200.
BVG CEO Sigrid Nikutta earns
over €433,000 annually.
The company currently has
3000 vehicles and transported
more than one billion
passengers in 2017.
Confessions of an U-Bahn driver
BVG employee “Michael P.” challenges the transport company’s
shiny-happy image with the day-to-day reality of his job.
I’ve been working for the BVG as a driver
for eight years. It was an obvious choice
for me. As a born Berliner, I’ve been
riding the U-Bahn every day for as long as I
can remember. It’s meaningful work to bring
people from A to B. I don’t have to wonder:
Who am I doing this for? I see enough people
who are benefiting from it. But when I started
my three-year training period with the company,
I was quickly confronted with the reality
behind the curtain. There’s so much pressure
to cut costs that conditions have gotten worse
and worse over the years.
THE DETERIORATING CONDITIONS
The number of passengers is increasing,
but there only about half as many workers
as there were 30 years ago. As recently
as last year, there were two people cleaning
a train – now, one person needs to do
the same job in the same time. And the
vehicles are deteriorating. Three years
ago, carriages were pulled out of service
as soon as there was graffiti on them. Now
that would be inconceivable – the trains
would be missing somewhere else. On the
U1, a train that is supposed to have eight
cars will often only have six. Management
hasn’t planned ahead. You can’t get subway
trains at a used car lot. You need to order
them years in advance. At the moment
on the U55, they’re using trains they took
out of a museum – the old “Dora” trains
that were mostly sold to Pyongyang in the
1990s. Last year, they put fruit baskets out
for drivers in the break rooms a few times
each week. But then they cancelled the
practice – supposedly it was too expensive!
THE ‘FLEXI’ SHIFTS
A typical work routine means a six-day week
on the subway. I’ll work four or five days,
then get one or two days off. So you rarely
get a full weekend off. Some of my colleagues
do, but for that they have to work “split
shifts”: four hours in the morning, then
four or five hours off – which is supposedly
their “free time” – and another four hours at
night. As for me, I drive for about four hours,
then I get 30 to 50 minutes of unpaid break,
then I drive for another four hours. Our
shifts are planned down to the second. So I’ll
be waiting at a station when a train arrives,
let’s say at 30 seconds past 8:01am. The previous
driver will get out and I’ll get in – no
time wasted! Every fifth week is a “stand-by
shift”, which means I only find out four days
in advance when I’ll be working. For workers
with families, like me, it’s almost impossible
to figure out when you can pick up your kid.
THE LOW WAGES
I earn €2150 a month before taxes – which
means, including several bonuses, I take home
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EXBERLINER 167