Verdi and EVG are demanding more than ten percent more wages in the current collective bargaining round.
But what do the workers who are now on strike earn compared to other workers?
Hamburg - Because of the high inflation, real wages had recently fallen more than ever.
Now Verdi and EVG are trying to counter this with high tariff demands.
According to Spiegel,
real wages in the railway industry were
1.4 percent below the 2015 level at the end of last year, and 0.3 percent in the public sector.
Only postal, courier and express services still had an increase of 1.8 percent.
Even if unions did reach a deal that gave workers an average wage increase of 10.5 or 12 percent, their real wages by the end of this year would still be lower than they were in 2020.
According to a survey for the ARD Deutschlandtrend, 44 percent of those surveyed consider the demands for 10.5 percent more wages, but at least 500 euros more per month, to be appropriate, and a further eight percent do not even go far enough.
However, 42 percent think that the demands of the unions go too far
Average earnings of less than 3,500 euros
Around half of all full-time employees in Germany have to make do with earnings of less than 3,500 euros a month, reports Der
Spiegel
.
Almost a quarter can be found in the proportionally largest earning groups between 2700 and 3500 euros gross.
Almost 60 percent earned less than 3900 euros.
Only about a seventh regularly gets 5900 euros or more.
By the way, the difference between the sexes becomes clear.
Women are significantly over-represented in the lowest income groups, men in the highest.
"Between the bottom 30 percent and the bottom 35 percent of employees there was only a difference in earnings of exactly 150 euros a month," it said.
Between the top ten and the top five percent, however, a difference of 1517 euros per month - and from the top five percent to the top percent again a difference of 4851 euros.
In the month.
Without special payments.
Wages: Public service above average
In April 2018, those who had a public employer received an average gross hourly wage of EUR 19.39 if they worked part-time and EUR 20.77 in full-time positions.
For all other employees, on the other hand, the hourly rates were lower at EUR 14.35 and EUR 18.27 respectively.
According to the statistics, monthly earnings were 3,619 euros in the public sector, 3,679 euros in the railway sector and 3,097 euros in the post/courier/express sector.
However, this consideration ignores possible differences in qualifications and professional experience, the report goes on to say.
Because in many areas of public service, professional or university degrees are required above average, for example for teachers and civil servants.
"In fact, the concrete earnings prospects in the public sector appear comparatively meager in most cases," writes Der
Spiegel.
This is all the more true in economically strong regions and metropolitan areas, where the possibilities of the public service to take countermeasures with allowances are quite limited.
