Public sector workers in German states strike wage deal
2023.12.09 10:10
© Reuters. Commuters walk on a Berlin transport company BVG subway platform at Alexanderplatz station during a nationwide strike called by the German trade union Verdi over a wage dispute, in Berlin, Germany, March 27, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Public sector workers in Germany’s federal states have agreed on a wage deal with employers, the ver.di union said on Saturday, reflecting a similar deal between the government and municipalities struck in April.
The agreement covers around 1.1 million workers, whose wages will rise by more than 11% on average by the time it ends on Oct. 31, 2025.
“The wage agreement could only be reached because tens of thousands of employees put pressure on employers with strikes across the entire public service sector of the federal states,” ver.di chief Frank Werneke said in a statement.
“It was this pressure that made the agreement possible in the first place,” he added.
The agreement follows a surge in the cost of living in 2023, fuelled by the Ukraine war as well as supply chain issues, which has led to some of Germany’s most disruptive strikes in decades.
