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For those knocking on the gates of the SRW scrap metal factory on the outskirts of the eastern German city of Leipzig, time is not just days (136 so far), but thousands of card games, liters of coffee consumed, And an arm’s worth of wood burned.
Or you could measure it by the length of Johnny Bone’s beard. He has vowed not to shave until he returns to the job he has held for 20 years. Mr. Vaughn, 56, looks like a shabby Santa Claus, wearing a red union baseball cap and tending a fire inside a drum.
Dozens of workers at the SRW recycling center say their strike is the longest in postwar German history, a dubious honor in a country with a history of harmonious labor relations. (The previous record of 114 days was held by shipyard workers in the northern city of Kiel, who went on strike in the 1950s.)
While months-long strikes may be common in other European countries such as Spain, Belgium and France, where worker protests have become a national pastime, Germany has long prided itself on uninterrupted collective bargaining. .
After this year’s wave of strikes, Germans are wondering whether that is now changing. By some metrics, the first three months of 2024 saw the most strikes in the country in the last 25 years.
Workers’ strikes crippled railways and airports. The doctors left the hospital. Bank employees were absent from work for several days.
“Germany – a striking nation?” asked a recent headline in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine. Jens Spahn, deputy leader of the conservative Christian Democrats in parliament, denounced the “madness of the strike”, saying it risked paralyzing the country.
The strike is the latest chapter in a story in which Germany, the 20th century’s “economic miracle,” faces dangers that serve as a warning for the 21st century.
Germany, long an economic powerhouse in Europe, is now the slowest growing country among the 20 countries using the euro. The economy is expected to enter a recession in 2023 and stagnate in 2024. The country suffered its highest inflation in 50 years last year, weighed down by soaring energy prices and falling production.
The burden falls most heavily on low- and middle-income workers. Recent research shows that their real wages will be lower from 2022 onwards than at any time since World War II.
At the same time, Germany faces an unprecedented workforce shortage and aging population, with authorities estimating a shortage of 7 million workers by 2035. This poses a problem for the generous welfare system that Germans have long relied on.
This is a unique opportunity for workers and a very vulnerable time for the national economy.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck said last week that “Germany is coming out of the crisis more slowly than expected” and criticized what he called “a little bit of an excessive strike”.
“We really can’t afford that,” he said.
Germany’s economy has been steadily profitable for decades, supported by exports to China and cheap gas from Russia. However, Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine forced Europe to withdraw from the Russian gas that supported German industry. And as the Chinese government deepens its “Made in China” strategy, the huge Asian market that was once a source of Germany’s growth is turning into an industrial rival.
The impact on Germany has been worse than elsewhere in Europe, precisely because of its huge manufacturing industry, which accounts for a fifth of the country’s total economic output (almost twice that of France or the UK).
Low-income workers preparing for a future that is less well-off than they are now have little recourse. Around 40% of households have little or no net savings, according to Marcel Fratzscher, head of the German Institute for Economic Research.
“The concerns, frustrations and fears of young people are completely justified, and of course so are parents concerned about their children,” he said.
“People believed that social services would provide for them,” he added. “We can no longer provide the services we used to.”
At the scrap metal factory, workers like Bourne take turns maintaining a 24-hour strike outside the main gate, keeping warm inside construction containers and around makeshift fireplaces powered by scrap wood.
The outage forced the factory to suspend night shifts, with only one of its four production lines operating. Strikers who want an 8% pay rise feel emboldened.
“You’ll notice that we’re more united,” said Christophe Leonard, 35, one of the picketers.
But salaries are not the only issue. Workers also want better working conditions, the ability to plan shifts and vacations far in advance, better work-life balance, and shorter working hours.
“Workers have become more confident,” said Katrin Heller, who last week marched through Berlin airport’s shiny new departure hall with hundreds of fellow strikers in Dayglo vests to force flights back into service. said. cancel.
“We expect to be treated fairly because we know we are valuable to our employers,” she said. Officially, airport security workers are demanding a 15% pay rise to keep up with inflation, but many are unhappy with shift schedules that force them to stand for up to six hours without breaks. is.
Robert Wegener, 56, who worked as a security inspector for 19 years, warned that jobs like his were no longer attractive to young people, adding: “If you don’t get these extra benefits, there’s no incentive to work here.” There aren’t many,” he said.
His employer, Mr. Securitas, agrees. Company spokesman Jonas Timm said recruiting had become increasingly difficult since the pandemic as the company began noticing a “change in mindset” about shift work.
Many employers are complaining that more job seekers are demanding shorter working hours or four-day weeks, for example.
Analysts disagree on why Germans want to work less, but many believe that Germany’s tax system is a big problem, taxing income much more heavily than personal assets and creating a low income tax system. They say it disproportionately affects middle-income workers.
Clemens Feust, director of Ifo’s economic research institute, says working full time can be more costly than staying at home. Ifo research shows that due to the tax structure for married couples, families where one partner works full-time and the other part-time are more likely than families with two parents who work full-time. I also found out that my income at the end of the month is high.
“The fact that middle-income people don’t deserve to work is a real problem,” he says.
As striking workers flex their muscles, critical infrastructure across Germany risks being shut down, piling up costs across the economy.
A one-day strike at Berlin and Hamburg airports last week grounded around 570 flights and affected 90,000 travelers, industry groups said.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy estimates that the conductors’ strike cost the German economy around 100 million euros per day.
Festo said those costs are often covered by adjustments made by businesses and affected travelers. Even more damaging is the economic situation, he said.
“This is more of a psychological problem,” he said, especially at a time when Germany feels polarized in both economic and political struggles, such as the war in Ukraine and the resurgence of the far right. Ta. “That leads to a heightened sense of crisis.”
The striking workers say they want a sense of security as well as higher pay.
“We need more credibility and we need to be able to plan for the long term,” Vaughn said.
Only then, he said, would he shave.
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