During the annual press conference on 25 January, and following a more or less positive assessment for 2015, Reiner Hoffmann, DGB president, presented the main thrusts for union action in 2016. Faced with an increase in the number of stress factors linked with digitization, the union leader called on the government to particularly reform the law on part time working and guarantee, as intended in the coalition government agenda, the right of employees to return to full time work following a decision to work part time in order to care for infants, young children, or close dependents. Against a controversial backdrop involving the refugee influx, the union leader warned of a rise in populism and in the extreme right. The leader called for an extra 40,000 jobs in the public sector (police, schools…) and has called on businesses to increase the number of apprenticeships on offer. He also reminded that access to training and to the jobs market were key to integration.
No drop in the minimum wage paid to refugees. For Reiner Hoffmann, 2015 was on balance a pretty good year. The “several good quality collective agreements” signed by the eight union members of the DGB as well as the implementation on 01 January 2015 of the €8.50 hourly minimum wage underpinned internal domestic demand. Stefan Körzell, a DGB management member called the minimum wage a “resounding success”, leading to an 8.2% increase in wages in the east of the country and a 3% rise in the west not to speak of the reduction in the number of ‘mini-jobs’ (c.f.
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