Germany could be facing a new round of industrial strife as train drivers and public sector employees threaten strike action to back up their wage and work demands.
While train driver union leaders have not ruled out further strike moves in their long-running bitter industrial battle with Germany's rail company, representatives of about 1.3 million public sector workers are also warning of industrial action to back up their push for a hefty 8-per-cent pay rise.
The threats come at the start of a round of what is expected to be an aggressive drive by unions for significant pay rises after a protracted period of wage stagnation and as labour representatives try to carve out a share of the solid growth rates and booming company profits that Europe's biggest economy has chalked up in recent years.
The union pay campaigns meant that 2008 was shaping up to be a "mega-wage year," declared Berthold Huber, the new head of Germany's biggest industrial union, IG Metall. The rail drivers union (GDL), which staged walk-offs last year in support of its claim for a 10 to 15-per-cent wage rise, is to meet on Sunday to decide on its next move, with a GDL spokesman telling Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Friday that he could not rule out "the strike option."
This came less than 24 hours after GDL leader Manfred Schell rejected the latest offer from the German railways, Deutsche Bahn AG, saying it "was not good enough" and that he was concerned about a breakdown of the negotiations. However, Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Mehdorn insisted Friday that he remained optimistic that a deal with the union could be reached next week.
The GDL, which has been locked in the often acrimonious industrial dispute with Deutsche Bahn since March, had originally sought a 31- per-cent pay increase, claiming its members' wages were well below what train drivers in other European nations were receiving.
Germany's unions also see their drive for higher wages this year as also helping to compensate workers for the recent surge in both energy and food prices. Moreover, like many other industrial nations, Germany's labour market has been hit by shortages of skilled workers, which has added to the pressure for pay rises in key industries.
Indeed, later this month, IG Metall, which covers about 3.5 million metal and engineering workers, is to formally launch its campaign for an 8-per-cent increase. Negotiations are to begin later this year. In the meantime, both federal and regional government negotiators have rejected the public sector 8-per-cent wage demand as excessive.
Spearheaded by Germany's giant service industry union Verdi, the public sector 200-euro-a-month (293-dollar-a-month) pay claim is the biggest public sector union wage demand since the economic boom following the nation's historic unification about 17 years ago. But Verdi chief Frank Bsirske warned, "We are willing and able to strike at any time," as his union's talks with public sector employers got underway this week.
However, coming at a time of renewed inflationary pressures, the prospects of a militant union campaign for wage increases has set the alarm bells ringing at the European Central Bank, with ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet warning union leaders that the bank would not tolerate spiralling wages.
But despite economists expecting German economic growth to slip back below 2 per cent in the coming 12 months after about 2.5 per cent in 2006, the nation's political leaders have signalled their support for higher pay settlements this year as Germany prepares for a round of key state elections.
"I think the employees should have a fair share, they should also take part in the success story," said German Finance Minister Peter Steinbrueck, adding his name to the list of ministers in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government endorsing the unions' drive for pay rises this year.
But economists say a big rise in wages could place at risk Germany's recent economic success, which resulted in growth climbing to 2.9 per cent in 2006 and which to an extent was based on the nation's improved competitiveness resulting from the long run of stagnating wages.
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