6,000 people in the Erding district work for low wages – an extra wage boost is intended to help them 

Created: 01/02/2023 12:16 PM

When the euro is no longer a euro: If you earn little, you can't make big leaps anyway.

The galloping inflation is now hitting low earners particularly hard, says the NGG union - and has announced that it will demand a wage increase of "10 plus X percent" for the new year.

© Florian Goericke

Inflation hits workers in restaurants and bakeries with full force

They have to turn over every penny anyway, but skyrocketing living costs are now finally pushing them to the limit: In the Erding district, around 6,000 people work for low wages.

And that despite having a full-time job.

This is pointed out by the food, pleasure and restaurants union.

The NGG Rosenheim-Oberbayern relies on statistics from the Federal Employment Agency.

According to this, 21 percent of all full-time employees in the district of Erding have an income below the official low wage threshold of currently 2,344 euros gross per month.

“In restaurants, hotels, bakeries and butchers, a particularly large number of people work for very low wages.

They are hit with full force by the rapidly rising prices for energy and food,” says Manuel Halbmeier.

For the managing director of the NGG region Rosenheim-Oberbayern it is now necessary to "raise wage valleys".

The aim is to let as many employees as possible in the district of Erding benefit from a "strong wage increase".

"If the new year has a 'salary headline', then it should be '10 percent plus X'," says Halbmeier.

The NGG has therefore decided to push through a strong and permanent increase in wages for 2023 - in collective bargaining for entire sectors as well as in-house collective agreements with individual companies.

“Because consumer prices will stay up.

The goal is therefore to raise the starting wages to at least 13 euros per hour,” explains NGG Managing Director Manuel Halbmeier.

In addition to the necessary, permanently higher wages and salaries, the NGG Rosenheim-Oberbayern will also campaign for the short-term inflation compensation premium.

"Up to 3,000 euros without taxes and without levies are a good and additional tool that the federal government has given companies to help employees over the 'cliffs of the crisis'," said Halbmeier.

“From shopping in the supermarket to a haircut at the hairdresser – everything is getting more expensive.

So expensive that low earners in particular can no longer afford many everyday items,” warns Halbmeier.

Even in normal times, a bakery saleswoman has difficulties getting along with her money until the end of the month.

"That's why low earners need an 'extra wage boost' right now.

Even in a crisis, the job has to ensure that there is no shortage of the bare necessities of life.

Full-time work must not become a risk factor for your wallet,” says Manuel Halbmeier.