BERLIN: Germany is all set for a massive strike on Monday that could cripple mass transport and airports as Europe’s largest economy reels from soaring inflation.
Ahead of the massive strike, the government and various unions have dug in their heels, with union bosses stating that considerable pay hikes were a “matter of survival” for thousands of employees. The government and management have called the demands “completely excessive.”
The strikes, likely to affect services throughout Monday, are the latest in months of industrial action that has hit major European economies including France as higher food and energy prices dent living standards.
Germany, dependent on Russia for gas before the war in Ukraine, has been particularly hard hit by higher inflation as it scrambled for the latest energy sources, with inflation rates exceeding the euro-area average in recent months.
German consumer prices increased more than anticipated in February — up 9.3 percent from a year earlier — pointing to no let-up in stubborn cost pressures that the European Central Bank (ECB) has been trying to tame with the series of interest-rate raises.
It has been a painful adjustment for millions of employees throughout the country as costs of everything from butter to rents increase after years of fairly stable prices.
“It is a matter of survival for several thousands of employees to get a considerable pay increase,” Frank Werneke, head of the Verdi labour union, told Bild am Sonntag.
Massive strikes in France
France has faced a series of massive strikes and protests since January as anger mounts over the government’s attempt to boost the state pension age by two years to 64.
But officials in Germany have made clear their fight is only about pay.
The Verdi union is negotiating for around 2.5 million employees in the public sector, including in public transport and airports. Railway and transport union EVG negotiates for approximately 230,000 employees at railway operator Deutsche Bahn and bus companies.
Verdi is demanding a 10.5 percent wage raise, which would see pay rising by at least 500 euros per month, while EVG is asking for a 12 percent raise and at least 650 euros per month.
Deutsche Bahn on Sunday said that the strike was “completely excessive, groundless and unnecessary.”
Employers also warn that higher wages for transport workers would result in higher fares and taxes to make up the difference.
