Services union ver.di has reacted angrily to attempts by economics minister Rainer Brüderle of the FDP to block the introduction of a minimum wage to cover the 800,000 workers in the care sector (“Pflegemindestlohn”). Ver.di had already managed to get agreement from the employers for minimum rates of Euro 8.50 an hour in the West and Euro 7.50 an hour in the East. Before the intervention of Brüderle, CDU labour minister Ursula von der Leyen had indicated that it would be possible to implement legislation soon so that the rates could be in force from 1 July (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 March 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/365;
German: https://gesundheit-soziales.verdi.de/branchenpolitik/pflegeeinrichtungen
M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS)