Roman Hebenstreit, chairman of the ÖBB group works council and head of the rail union vida, expressed his frustration in an interview with the KURIER about the ongoing resource distribution within the company. He explained that during times of panic, people within the company start taking away resources from each other, which includes staff and materials. Hebenstreit went on to state, “Over the years, people have always boasted that they can manage with fewer staff than planned. You will now be presented with the bill for this.”
Hebenstreit is particularly irritated by the continuous downplaying of the staff shortage. He said, “The ÖBB are currently looking for skilled workers in third countries such as India, but have not come up with the idea of training more apprentices themselves instead. The fact that these railway professions are being put on the list of shortage occupations, as a public sector company, is completely unacceptable.”
Millions of overtime hours
Hebenstreit places the blame for the staff shortage and overtime hours on politicians and ÖBB management. He claims that due to their demand for savings, ÖBB employees were forced to work four million hours of overtime last year, with over a million of these hours being worked by train drivers.
Hebenstreit said, “There is a need for women and men. We need 19,000 new employees in the next six years.” He attributes this need primarily to upcoming retirements and believes that the ÖBB should have prepared for this in advance. He also pointed out that the railway is facing high employee turnover.
Hebenstreit explained, “If young people have to work a large amount of overtime on a permanent basis, then they turn their attention elsewhere because they want to have a life in addition to work. We are supposed to expand the infrastructure and transport performance by billions, but we also need the people to implement it.” He believes that these needs have not been met.
Hebenstreit added, “The owner has ensured that more and more trains run without conductors. In a crisis, this takes its toll because there are no longer any staff who can communicate with customers. If you want to maximize profits and increase competitiveness, then you lose flexibility and crisis resilience as a rail company.”
German local transport
Hebenstreit also critiqued the issues with train maintenance and the expansion of ÖBB in Germany. He said that the workshops are overloaded, and there is a lack of appropriate staff. Furthermore, Hebenstreit stated, “The fact that we are buying companies on the German market in order to participate in local transport is a political decision by the owner. If we have resources, they should be focused on the challenges in our country and not somewhere else in the world. The ÖBB has no place in the local transport market in Germany.” He questioned the benefits for Austrian taxpayers from these efforts.
Counterattack by ÖBB
In response to Hebenstreit’s criticisms, ÖBB issued a press release stating that they will have increased their workforce by 600 people, bringing the total to 43,200 employees in 2023. They added that 5,031 train drivers are currently on duty, 24 more than the previous year. They also highlighted their commitment to training, with 2,100 young people currently being trained in 27 technical and commercial professions. They further mentioned that 700 new apprentices were hired last year, making ÖBB one of the largest apprentice training companies in Austria.
