Bonn Bars Pay Offer, Freezes Federal Salaries
BONN — The German government froze the salaries of its own members Wednesday and refused to make a new pay offer to striking public employees, who were joined in industrial action by more than 130,000 metal workers.
The government acknowledged that public sector strikes are beginning to bite, but it stood firm on its offer of a 4.8% pay raise and said the 9.5% demanded by the public service union OeTV is unacceptable.
Labor tension mounted as Germany’s largest union, IG Metall, launched strikes to support public servants who have halted many transportation, postal and hospital services across western Germany.
Government ministers decided to freeze their own wages to set an example of belt-tightening as Germany grapples with the cost of unification.
The salaries of Chancellor Helmut Kohl and all ministers and state secretaries in his center-right coalition government will be held at their present level for the rest of 1992 and through 1993.
Meanwhile, the metal workers union said that members staged scattered warning strikes also demanding 9.5% raises.
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