Verdi boss Frank Werneke is threatening strikes by kindergarten teachers and garbage collectors in order to get 10.5 percent more salary because of inflation. Many employees felt overheated. In the politics of the federal government, he lacks the social balance.
from
Alexander Hageluken and Benedikt Peters
These are difficult times, also for trade unionists. The most important collective bargaining round of the year begins on Tuesday, when it comes to the salaries of the 2.5 million employees in the federal and local public sector. And the question of whether Verdi boss Frank Werneke will succeed in compensating for historically high inflation with a historically high wage agreement. The situation brings back memories of the 1970s, when after the oil crisis one of the Verdi boss’s predecessors became an employer scare – and even angered the SPD Chancellor Willy Brandt.