German public sector strikes expand
Thursday, 21 February 2008
FRANKFURT, Feb 20 (AFP): More striking German civil servants held rallies yesterday to press for higher wages amid a growing tax evasion scandal that could give labour militants a tailor-made issue to back up their demands.
"We need at least eight per cent because we also want to invest in Liechtenstein," a banner in the western city of Dortmund read, a reference to alleged cases of massive tax fraud centered on the European principality.
Several hundred people are suspected of depriving German coffers of hundreds of millions of euros in tax by placing funds in what the OECD called again Tuesday an "un-cooperative tax haven."
Meanwhile, strikes spread in the German public service sector to press for pay raises, the Verdi trade union said.
All German states were affected with the exception of the northern city-state of Hamburg and Saxony in eastern Germany, a spokesman told the news agency.
Cleaning workers, staff in local town halls, savings banks, day-care centres and armed forces personnel took part in the actions, the spokesman said.
In North-Rhine Westphalia, 16,000 civil servants participated in strikes, he added.
"We need at least eight per cent because we also want to invest in Liechtenstein," a banner in the western city of Dortmund read, a reference to alleged cases of massive tax fraud centered on the European principality.
Several hundred people are suspected of depriving German coffers of hundreds of millions of euros in tax by placing funds in what the OECD called again Tuesday an "un-cooperative tax haven."
Meanwhile, strikes spread in the German public service sector to press for pay raises, the Verdi trade union said.
All German states were affected with the exception of the northern city-state of Hamburg and Saxony in eastern Germany, a spokesman told the news agency.
Cleaning workers, staff in local town halls, savings banks, day-care centres and armed forces personnel took part in the actions, the spokesman said.
In North-Rhine Westphalia, 16,000 civil servants participated in strikes, he added.