(14 February, 2008, Berlin) EPSU affiliate ver.di today announced a series of ‘warning strikes’ by Public Service workers. The strikes, scheduled from 14-22 February, will take place throughout Germany. Ver.di President Frank Bsirske announced that public service workers had no choice but to strike. A ver.di negotiator commented that; “the ‘insultingly low’ wage offer by representatives of the Municipal and Federal employers is the cause of this action”. After three rounds of negotiations, all the employers could come up with was an offer of 2.5 % for 2008 and 0.4% for 2009, at a time when inflation goes up. EPSU has learned that linked to the deal, is a demand by the employer to increase working time. EPSU deputy General Secretary, Jan Willem Goudriaan stated that; “in short, workers in Germany’s public services are actually being offered a wage freeze or even a wage decline. This is unacceptable after years of stagnation of wages”. EPSU demands a fair deal for public service workers reflecting inflation and productivity increases. A further negotiation round is provisionally slated for the last week of February. Ver.di representatives expect the employers to make significant moves to guarantee a fair deal.
Civil servants, workers in hospitals, fire-fighters, waste collectors, bus drivers, social workers and many more in public administration and municipal services, will be involved in the ver.di action.
The ver.di website provides an update of all the actions and includes Strike-TV with background and up-to-date information on the negotiations, strikes and background. Several detailed information sheets are available, including news from individual branches and from youth workers. For general info go to: http://www.genuggespart.de/

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