BY CATHARINA TIRSÉN

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - One hundred thousand workers took part in warning strikes and other protests in Germany May 20. The stoppages were concentrated in eastern Germany. Public transport was at a standstill in Cologne, Bonn, and Dusseldorf. In Berlin day-care centers were closed in the morning. In other places garbage collectors, administrative personel, and hospital workers walked out for a couple of hours.

Workers are demanding a 4.5 percent raise for 3.2 million public employees. As part of a package to save 50 billion D-Marks (1 DM = US$ 1.54), the federal government is proposing a wage freeze for two years for all public employees.

The May 20 actions kicked off a week of union protests against this plan. That day metal workers in southern and southwestern Germany took part in demonstrations against the government's plans to cut sick pay from 100 percent to 80 percent and raise the retirement age.

As the employers and unions met for a third round of negotiations, strikes continued May 22. That morning public transportation in Berlin was at a standstill, while garbage collectors and local government employees were on strike in Hamburg.

Not even an agreement on three weeks of mediation under a compulsory truce, reached during the negotiations, stopped the protests. Tens of thousands took part in work stoppages, according to the public workers union OTV, and public transport in cities in the Ruhr area was halted during the morning. Dieter Krause, representing OTV in Bochum, said these strikes had already been called when mediation was decided upon. The employers offered 0.5 percent for the next eight months and 1 percent more the following year in the May 22 negotiations.

In Sachsen, Berlin, Brandenburg, and Baden-Wurttemberg there were also spontaneous protests and demonstrations. "The anger is so great, people are simply letting it out," said Rudolf Winterholler, president of the OTV in Baden-Wurttemberg.

The same week the German economics ministry said the country's gross domestic product fell in the first three months of 1996, as it had in the last quarter of 1995, signaling the economy is in a recession.

Catharina Tirsén is a member of the metal workers union in Stockholm.  
 
 
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