BERLIN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned on Sunday that a high public sector wage settlement as demanded by the unions would lead to higher taxes, more state debt and a reduction in services.
Criticising the demand for a 5-percent wage increase a year as 'exorbitant' after German gross domestic product shrank by 5 percent, de Maiziere told Bild am Sonntag newspaper the state cannot afford anything like that in a crisis era.
'The union should be honest in the current situation about what their demand means: higher taxes, more debt, higher fees for day-care, the closing of libraries, theatres and swimming pools. That's not my idea of acting responsibily.'
Public sector unions have been running the series of temporary stoppages as part of their push for a 5 percent pay rise for some 2 million workers, a demand rejected by state and municipal employers as unrealistic.
They have made no counter offer. Talks have been stalled.
'The token strikes in the day-care centres and public transportation are so annoying because the unions have put up an exorbitant wage demand that is completely over the top and they are thus showing disdain for the public,' de Maiziere wrote in the column for Bild am Sonntag.
He warned that there was no scope for such a raise when the economy was struggling to recover from the economic crisis.
'There's a cold wind blowing outside with short-term work schemes, unemployment and wage cuts -- and so there's nothing extra available to be distributed among the civil servants,' he wrote.
Germany exited its deepest postwar recession last year but the recovery since has been tepid. Unions have said the token strikes will continue until wage talks reconvene on Feb. 10.
(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Bill Tarrant) Keywords: GERMANY WAGES/ (Reuters messaging: erik.kirschbaum.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Criticising the demand for a 5-percent wage increase a year as 'exorbitant' after German gross domestic product shrank by 5 percent, de Maiziere told Bild am Sonntag newspaper the state cannot afford anything like that in a crisis era.
'The union should be honest in the current situation about what their demand means: higher taxes, more debt, higher fees for day-care, the closing of libraries, theatres and swimming pools. That's not my idea of acting responsibily.'
Public sector unions have been running the series of temporary stoppages as part of their push for a 5 percent pay rise for some 2 million workers, a demand rejected by state and municipal employers as unrealistic.
They have made no counter offer. Talks have been stalled.
'The token strikes in the day-care centres and public transportation are so annoying because the unions have put up an exorbitant wage demand that is completely over the top and they are thus showing disdain for the public,' de Maiziere wrote in the column for Bild am Sonntag.
He warned that there was no scope for such a raise when the economy was struggling to recover from the economic crisis.
'There's a cold wind blowing outside with short-term work schemes, unemployment and wage cuts -- and so there's nothing extra available to be distributed among the civil servants,' he wrote.
Germany exited its deepest postwar recession last year but the recovery since has been tepid. Unions have said the token strikes will continue until wage talks reconvene on Feb. 10.
(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Bill Tarrant) Keywords: GERMANY WAGES/ (Reuters messaging: erik.kirschbaum.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.