Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in 15 major German cities on Saturday to protest against cuts to social benefits. The nationwide day of action was organised by the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) and its member unions. The unions said around 175,000 people took part. According to the DGB, the demonstrations and rallies were intended to send “a clear signal for a strong welfare state, secure jobs, good working conditions and the protection of workers’ rights.”
Events were held in cities including Bremen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Essen, Magdeburg, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. The campaign was held under the motto: “Hard-earned! Your work. Your health. Your pension.”
DGB Chairwoman Yasmin Fahimi spoke at the rally in Essen. According to the DGB, she criticised, among other things, calls for longer working hours and for weakening the eight-hour working day. “We will not simply let them take away what we have built up over many years in terms of social standards,” she said, according to the DGB. “All of this has been hard-earned.”
According to the DGB, Fahimi also defended the pension without deductions available after 45 years of insurance contributions. She said that people who had paid contributions for that long must be able to retire without deductions.
Frank Werneke, chairman of the services union Verdi, spoke at the rally in Frankfurt am Main. In his speech, according to Verdi, he criticised what he called an “onslaught on workers’ rights and the welfare state” and demanded an “end to the class struggle from above.” He said the attacks ranged from abolishing the eight-hour working day and requiring a medical certificate from the first day of sick leave to a major expansion of fixed-term employment contracts without an objective reason.
The Left Party also took part in the action. According to the party, it planned to support the demonstrations with “its own groups, feeder demonstrations and speeches.” “We are standing against every cut to health, wages and pensions, against exploding prices,” Left Party Chairwoman Ines Schwerdtner said in advance. “We want to stop the Merz agenda.”
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