09 epsucob@NEWS 1 May 2006

Frank Bsirske, general secretary of the ver.di services union has made clear his union's determination to continue the strike in the public sector to secure agreements with the regional employers and stop the push for longer working hours. The strike of employees at university hospitals is now in its eleventh week and Bsirske told the German radio station that funding the dispute was not a problem and that it could still be going on during the World Cup tournament although he hoped that the regional employers would come to the negotiating table before then. [Read more at > German radio website

Members of the PCS public services union have taken strike action in a number of areas in recent weeks. A one-day strike in Learning and Skills Councils around the country on 28 April was in protest at plans to cut 1,200 jobs. Security guards in Newcastle took action on 25 April over an inadequate pay increase that leaves them on only £5.23 (€7.55) an hour. And on 13 April tax workers in Lothian in Scotland were on strike over new working methods that they argue have been introduced without negotiation and are deskilling their jobs. [Read more at > PCS Learning and Skills->http://www.pcs.org

Services union ver.di and the NGG food and catering workers' union held a joint conference on 26 and 27 April as part of their developing campaign in support of a legal minimum wage. The conference was opened with a short film revealing what is like trying to survive on low pay. Verdi general secretary Frank Bsirske and his NGG counterpart Franz-Josef Möllner provided a comprehensive introduction to the key issues explaining very clearly why Germany needs a legal minimum wage. There were discussions about the impact of minimum wages elsewhere including the UK and France (presented by EPSU

A new book examines how minimum wages work across Europe. It looks at the statutory systems that apply in 18 of the 25 European Union states, explaining how they have developed and the process of increasing minimum wages rates each year. The book also investigates the systems of minimum wages in collective agreements that are the basis of regulation in the Scandinavian countries as well as Austria. The book includes an overview of minimum wage systems across Europe and a proposal from researchers in Germany, France and Switzerland for co-ordinating minimum wages, both statutory and negotiated