Central banker militancy hit the streets of Frankfurt for the second time in less than a year on Tuesday, as 1,400 Bundesbank workers staged the biggest protest in the bank's history at plans to shut almost half its branches. The Bundesbank said last month it was looking at closing 14 of its 47 branches by 2012, with another nine facing the axe by 2015 if it goes ahead with plans to set up two new cash-handling centres.
The plans would see branches in cities including Dresden, Bremen and Aachen shut, with 300 jobs expected to go and another 500 workers having to relocate. A final decision will be made by December. Employees turned out in force to protest and created a raucous atmosphere, blowing whistles, banging drums and sounding air raid sirens outside the front gate of the Bundesbank's 13-storey prefab headquarters on the outskirts of Frankfurt.
"This is a historic first, as for the very first time Bundesbank employees turn into the streets to voice their protest," said Bernd Kurczyk, a union head at the Bundesbank. The demonstration took place against a background of wider rumblings within the Bundesbank and follows a walkout by European Central Bank staff in June. A meeting of Bundesbank decision-makers on Tuesday is expected to strip board member Thilo Sarrazin of key duties following controversial comments he made about Turkish and Arab groups in a recent interview.
Demonstrators at the protest vented their anger at Sarrazin, the man who up until Tuesday's board meeting was in charge of cash circulation at the Bundesbank, the central battleground in the branch closure plan. They jeered loudly and blew whistles when his name was mentioned. One giant banner waved by the crowd criticised the branch closures as "Sarrazin's horror-vision."