The branch minimum wage, set up on September 4, 2007 by the Ver.di union and the employers' organization AGV – which is controlled by the Deutsche Post (see our story 070722), was vividly criticized by the German post's private competitors, as well as by conservative representatives (CDU/CSU) and the German employers' federation (BDA). It could even not come into effect as planned on January 1, 2008, the date planned for the German postal market's liberalization. (Ref. 070730)
Opponents to this minimum wage (which varies between 8 euros and 9.80 euros according to regions and sectors) are judging it too high and saying that it is actually chasing a different goal: protecting the German post from competition the day after the monopoly is lost. “These social partners clearly want to avoid any competition in the postal sector (…) It is as though one tried to impose the Volkswagen house tariff agreement to the entire metallurgy branch,” stated Michael Fuchs, CDU/CSU depu
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