Of course, many are now talking about Heinz Kluncker. The unions Verdi and the German Civil Servants Association are demanding 10.5 percent more wages for the 2.5 million employees in the public sector at federal and local level, for educators, garbage workers and nursing staff, for example. 10.5 percent, that’s more than it has been for a long time, just since the days of Kluncker.
The man is a kind of specter of the collective bargaining world: In the 1970s, he got eleven percent more money for the public sector, he is said to have exacerbated the economic crisis at the time and even contributed to the resignation of Chancellor Willy Brandt – which, in this eagerly sought shortage, with great caution is to be taken.
The concern associated with Kluncker is that unions could push through irresponsibly high wage increases, companies could raise prices as a result, and so on. Economists call this the wage-price spiral, it drives inflation and deepens the crisis. But the bogeyman is not suitable for this time, for several reasons. The trade unions behave responsibly, as the collective bargaining rounds since the outbreak of the war have shown. Verdi & Co. are demanding 10.5 percent, but the deal will be lower. An instrument that the federal government provides to prevent precisely that wage-price spiral could come into play here: tax-free special payments of up to 3,000 euros, which do not permanently increase wage costs. In any case, it is not wages that are driving inflation, but primarily energy prices.
I would also like to say to all those who were outraged: municipal finances are more solid than some employers do, the Federal Statistical Office has just confirmed this. The trade unionists want nothing more than to compensate for inflation and protect low and middle earners even more; there are many of them in the public service. What, if not that, is a union’s job?