Bavaria’s DGB boss Bernhard Stiedl on rapidly rising prices, the fight for fair wages and the greed is cool mentality. He wants to keep price jumps on the gas and electricity market small with a cap. The company, which is making high profits despite the Corona crisis, is supposed to finance it.
Interviewed by
Catherine Hoffman
A lack of gas imports, rising food prices and ever higher electricity bills: inflation is affecting all employees, especially those who were already earning poorly before the crisis. Many are very worried about whether their future income will be enough to make ends meet. Bernhard Stiedl wants to fight for them, for the little people and against big business, as he says himself. When the native Deggendorfer speaks, one sometimes thinks one hears a labor leader from earlier decades. Stiedl was elected chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) in Bavaria in January. Previously, he was mainly active at IG Metall in Ingolstadt. He is a trained precision mechanic and studied business administration. He is currently warming up for the collective bargaining rounds in the fall.