In the midst of negotiations between services union ver.di and the German Retail Federation (HDE) over a minimum wage for the 2.7 million retail workers, where an hourly base rate somewhere between € 7 and € 8.80 has been discussed, Juergen Kisseberth, director of discount supermarket chain Lidl, has come up with a proposal for a minimum hourly rate of € 10. Some critics of Lidl reacted surprised, as the discounter has been under fire in recent years for treating employees and suppliers poorly on a number of occasions. Ver.di officials have avoided speculations about the company’s motives. Union spokeswoman Cornelia Hass said, “We hope that this good example will be followed by other chains. A lot of retailers think it's acceptable to pay wages that their workers cannot live on in order to keep a competitive edge. Lidl pays good wages but still has a good competitive position. There really is no more convincing argument”, adding “This is a positive signal, but they will have to go a lot further before you hear me calling them a model company.”
English: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14732011,00.html
M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS)