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Sievers, Markus
3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Boundless solidarity at Opel
Employees of the car maker Opel, which has been badly hit by the economic crisis, are demonstrating across Europe for their jobs. For the Frankfurter Rundschau the protests send a message against fatalism and egoism: "With their cross-border day of protest the employees are showing they will not resign themselves to their fate without out a struggle. They stand arm in arm with their colleagues in other locations, whether Germany, the UK or Poland. European solidarity thrives here, something which can by no means be taken for granted in these times. In England unionists protest against workers from Eastern Europe. In Italy the prime minister rails against foreigners. In Spain the police harass migrants without residence permits who they let be in better times. With their protests the car workers have answered this new economic nationalism with an effective countermeasure. At Opel solidarity comes relatively easily because the workers are bound by anger at the common enemy, the evil mother from America [General Motors]."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » United Kingdom, » Poland, » Europe
The exemplary British
The British government is planning to lower value added tax. Germany should follow suit, writes the Frankfurter Rundschau. "The British government has already set the tone once in Europe with its rescue plan for banks. Now London has taken stock of the situation and has announced it will sink value added tax. When times were better, Germany's coalition battled consumption with the biggest tax hike in the history of the Federal Republic. Now it has the elbow room to correct this mistake. It could lower value added tax for a period of one or two years. This would make it clear that more debts must be shouldered on the short term. The idea is not to dry out the state, however, but to strenghen the domestic economy in the biggest economic crisis of the past 80 years."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Germany, » United Kingdom
The battle over collective salary agreements
Germany's train drivers, who are organised into their own trade union, are currently negotiating a considerable hike in their salaries with the leaders of Germany's railway company. Markus Sievers comments: "The doctors refuse to be satisfied with the same salary increase as the nurses, the pilots want a larger percentage than the stewardesses and the traffic controllers want more than their colleagues in administration. The powerful elites are using their exposed position to achieve their goals. They are renouncing solidarity with the majority, causing deep rifts within companies and rocking the foundations of collective agreements... The nation sympathises with the labour disputes led by doctors at hospitals and train drivers because for years their demands have received too little consideration in collective pay negotiations."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Social movements, » Corporations, » Germany
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