According to the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) in Bavaria, more than 35,000 people took to the streets for Labor Day. According to the police and organizers, a total of around 6,500 people came to the demonstration and main rally in Nuremberg.
DGB regional manager Stephan Doll pointed out in his opening speech at the Kornmarkt that not only the Basic Law, but also the Collective Bargaining Act is 75 years old this year. When politicians demand a restriction on the right to strike, “they are attacking our constitution and the foundations of our democracy,” said Doll, according to the speech manuscript. Instead, the democratic parties are called upon to “finally end the tariff flight”.
While for decades between 80 and 90 percent of people were paid according to the tariff, today in Bavaria not even one in two people are paid. Bavaria is still the only federal state without a collective bargaining and procurement law. In his speech, the keynote speaker Heribert Prantl, a lawyer and journalist, criticized politicians’ recurring complaints about alleged abuse of the welfare state. Germany has more of a poverty and a wealth problem. “The low-income earners are being fleeced, the wealthy are cultivating their wealth,” he said. With a view to the upcoming European elections, Prantl called on all trade unionists not to vote for anti-constitutional parties. “Strong democracies need strong unions,” he said at the end of his speech.
The Bavarian DGB chairman Bernhard Stiedl called on employers on Wednesday to make job security the top priority of the hour. A clear signal is now needed for Germany as a business location, said Stiedl at the rally on Augsburg’s Königsplatz, according to the announcement. However, instead of developing strategies for the future, too many employers are resorting to measures such as downsizing, ceasing production and relocating abroad.
Stiedl expects support in the form of investments from the Bavarian state government. “Due to the fatal debt brake, the public infrastructure has been subject to wear and tear for years. In Bavaria alone, a huge investment backlog of several billion euros per year has piled up.” The debt brake must be deleted from the Bavarian constitution.
On May 1st, IG Metall Bayern announced resistance to the retreat of many employers in industrial change. The Bavarian IG Metall chairman Horst Ott also criticized the relocation of jobs, for example to Eastern Europe. “This means that these companies are saying goodbye to collectively shaping change.” Ott was annoyed by the naturalness with which employer associations repeatedly demanded various benefits for companies under the slogan of reducing bureaucracy. “Laws designed to protect workers from exploitation and the environment from destruction are not bureaucracy,” he said.
The May 1st demonstrations were supported by various organizations from trade unions, politics, the environment, peace, churches, democracy education, transport and advice.