BY CARL-ERIK ISACCSSON

BONN - Central Bonn was crowded June 15 with 350,000 demonstrators who had come from all over Germany to protest the "savings plan" put forward by the government of chancellor Helmut Kohl. The austerity plan includes lowering sick leave payments and family allowances, while raising the retirement age.

With whistles and drums, the protesters marched from different assembly points to the big park Hofgarten at the university, where workers and youth assembled for a rally. The demonstration was organized by the German union federation DGB, together with DAG, the public workers union. It was called months ago to coincide with debates and decisions in Bundestag, the German parliament, on the "savings plan."

"We have chartered a train for 800 people but we will fit 1,000 into it," said Otto Kollakowsky, a representative of metal workers union IG Metall at the Lloyd Werken shipyard in Bremerhafen. The facility is owned by the one of the biggest shipyard companies in Europe, Bremer Vulkan, that recently went bankrupt.

In Berlin, where the students are fighting the imposition of student fees, posters were up for the demonstration at Humboldt university and at the technical university.

In Hamburg a few days before the rally, student leader Alexander Jacob explained that three buses had been chartered to go to Bonn. Since more students were signing up to go, he was organizing a fourth bus. The proposed new system for student loans and grants has sparked a protest movement at that university, since it will drastically cut the number of students in higher education.

Some 40,000 people demanding equal rights for Kurds demonstrated in Hamburg on June 15. Armin Dummel and his workmates at an auto parts plant near Stuttgart, carried a banner that read, "30 hours workweek with no cut in pay." He explained, "Just think how many jobs would be available if the workweek was reduced to 30 hours on an international scale. The unions should fight for that demand now."

"Say no to the government's plans. Let us instead together try to reform our welfare state," DGB-leader Dieter Schulte said speaking to the rally. He demanded the government take up talks about the "alliance for jobs," a concession offer Schulte has made to the government since late last year. "The alliance for jobs is not dead. We need new ideas to create jobs. We are prepared to compromise," he said.

"Yes it will be a hot summer. This demonstration is only the beginning," said Horst Dotten, a metalworker at the Widia Fabrik in Essen. He mentioned that one of his co-workers went to Paris for a demonstration on December 12 last year. Another worker said, "I hope the government will change its mind after this demonstration. I do not want to go on strike."

The day before the rally Kohl said, "Our program for growth and employment will be imposed. I am completely sure of that. I am not impressed by how many people will come to the demonstration in Bonn."

Workers had a range of views on what the problem was. "It is all because of the reunification," said two metal workers. "It is being paid for with our money."

An electrician from eastern Germany said that he managed to get a job in the west. "But I got laid off. I am still unemployed after several years, in spite of going through a two-year course to improve my skills. So here I am now at this demonstration."

Several banners and placards called for a general strike. Hans, a member of the employer and employee committee at GM/Opel in Bochum, distributed a leaflet from a group of metal workers union members there. It challenged the assertion by representatives of the government and employers, that a general strike is unconstitutional. "Otherwise they will not understand. A demonstration will not force them to change their minds," he said. "I really hope it will be a hot summer."

One part of the "savings plan" is a wage freeze for public workers, hundreds of thousands of whom have been on rolling warning strikes for weeks. A mediation commission was set up three weeks ago. On June 14, the day before the big demonstration in Bonn, the commission went public with a proposal for a lump sum of 300 deutsch marks (1DM=US$0.66) for 1996 and a wage increase of 1.3 percent in 1997. The reduction of the sick leave payments from 100 to 80 percent as well as a lengthening of the workweek and reduction of the extra Christmas payments, which the employers had demanded, were not included in the proposal. The public workers in the east would get 85 percent of the wages in the west, but not until Sept. 1, 1997.

Public workers union OTV's chairman Herbert Mai called the proposed agreement "defendable." Minister of the Interior Manfred Kanther said the employers of the republic, the states, and local governments should be prepared to accept the proposal. It would be "a sign of reason," he said.

State govt's resist proposals
Earlier in the week Kurt Biedenkopf, the state president in Saxonia in eastern Germany, had stated it might be necessary to leave the central organization for public employers if the contract included any raise. Increased wage parity with western states will mean increased expenses for the state budgets in eastern Germany. Other representatives of the employers have raised the idea of less centralized contract agreements.

On June 14, banks in Berlin and other cities were closed by warning strikes as negotiations on a new contract for bank employees dragged on.

At a debate that day in the German parliament, Finance Minister Waigel criticized the Social Democratic Party (SPD) for not cooperating on the austerity measures. He pointed out that the social democrats in Sweden, Finland, Austria, and the Netherlands have supported far-reaching austerity measures and demanded that the SDP do the same. The social democratic party in Germany opposes the government's proposals of cuts and tax reductions, but SPD-president Oskar Lafontaine told parliament he favors "harsh savings" and hinted that public wages linked to productivity and more part-time work would lower the high costs for wages for the different states.

Carl-Erik Isacsson and Catharina Tirsén are members of the Metal Workers Union in Sodertalje and Stockholm respectively.  
 
 
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