MUNICH (dpa-AFX) – The Mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, is pushing for a quick agreement on the wage dispute in the public sector. “Everything is clear, the employers also know that this time there will and must be a whopping wage increase,” said the SPD politician on Saturday on Bayerischer Rundfunk.
The public coffers are indeed clammy. If the strikes continue next week, he has full sympathy for citizens “whom it just annoys” but also for public sector employees in an expensive city like Munich. The state capital is now also having the problem of finding workers. “What I would like to have different is that you don’t have to drive so many strike laps, that you get together much more often,” said Reiter.
The federal and local governments have offered their 2.5 million public sector employees five percent more wages and 2,500 euros in one-off payments over a period of 27 months in the nationwide collective bargaining dispute. The Verdi union rejected this as “cheeky” and continues to demand 10.5 percent for a one-year term, but at least 500 euros more per month. The third round of negotiations is not planned for the end of March./rol/DP/mis