Western European News Digest
Third Wave of Outsourcing Ravaging Jobs in Germany
Two million more German jobs are threatened by outsourcing by 2009, warns a new study by Prof. Horst Wildemann and coauthors at the Munich Technical University. The study notes that we are now witnessing the third wave of outsourcing. During the first two waves, in the years 1980 to 2001, about 100,000 German jobs were sent abroad, mainly by large corporations. But now, more and more Mittelstand (medium-size) firms are engaging in outsourcing as well, and the annual job losses will increase to 152,000 in the years 2005-2009. This adds up to 760,000 industrial jobs that will be transferred out by the end of the decade. However, if the effects on suppliers and partner-firms are taken into account, job losses will come close to 2 million. Most of these jobs will be shifted to eastern Europe. Some firms not only want to shift their production, but their management or R&D departments as well.
The study emphasizes that quite often, such outsourcing efforts, supposedly reducing labor costs, are ending in disaster. So far, 60% of all R&D operations by German companies sent outside the country had to be reversed because product quality was falling too much. The failure rate in the case of production outsourcing is about 10%. Wildemann has calculated that, for example, while wages in Poland are much lower than in Germany, the ratio of output to wages for an average industrial job is almost the same in both countries. Therefore, he said, the outsourcing of jobs could be easily stopped, once large corporations, the Mittelstand, trade unions, and politicians would collaborate to boost the productivity of German jobs.
German Poverty on the Rise
Poverty in Germany has been rising drastically, even before the Hartz IV austerity program takes effect. The German Red Cross warned that already, every third child or youth under age 18 in Berlin lives in a household (family or single mother) that is poor. The Red Cross reports that more and more children show up at its soup kitchens in Berlin, to get something to eat.
The number of "problem" cases among Berlin households that fail to achieve minimum income without welfare or other state support, has increased by more than 16% in the past 12 months, from 361,000 to 421,000.
Reliance on soup kitchens is also reported from other eastern German cities and regions. The Mansfeld region in Saxe-Anhalt, which during the coming winter will have an official (i.e., understated) jobless rate of 28-30% (!), has seen a doubling of poor citizens knocking at the doors of soup kitchens, over the recent period.
All of this is happening before the implementation of the Hartz IV package in January, thus putting into jeopardy an estimated 100,000 households (according to the German Residents Association, Deutscher Mieterbund), which would no longer be able to pay rent and other necessities at the same time.
For eastern Germany, welfare organizations in numerous cities have calculated what it means for lowest-income households once they get a maximum pay of 331 euros, under Hartz IV: Since rent support (Wohngeld) paid by the municipalities is limited to 3 or 4 euros per square meter, such "problem" households will face have to choose between paying the difference to pay the rent and cut deeply into food and other needs, or be forced to move into a less expensive flatlikely in run-down areas of the municipalities, like the "Plattenbau" housing complexes of the former East German state, in which no investment was made for the one or two decades before 1989, and none since German reunification in 1990.
German Workers Protest Income Cuts
German public-service workers took to the streets against income cuts Nov. 17. The protest is against plans of the governments of the 16 states of Germany to cut incomes, by scrapping bonus payments (Christmas bonuses, overtime work pay, etc.), and by extending working hours per week from 38.5 to 42 hours.
The protest action, for example, in the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen, involved 7,000 workers of highway and postal services, several thousand workers from altogether 70 institutions in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as workers and employees of hospitals and theaters in the state of Bavaria.
The service sector labor union pre-announced more such actions between now and Jan. 31, the day the current wage agreement expires.
Bulgarian Labor Unions Stage National Day of Protest
Bulgarian labor unions staged a national day of protest against government austerity policies. Altogether 400,000 workers and employees of various sectors of the economy took part in warning strikes lasting one hour each on Nov. 18.
This involved urban transport workers, medical personnel, customs services, metal, and construction workersthe latter were especially enraged at the fact that they have not received any pay for several months, in the case of Balkancar, the country's biggest construction firm, and some not even in one year.
This was the biggest labor protest in 14 years, since the end of the socialist regime in Bulgaria, and more will follow, labor officials warned, if neo-liberal policies of the present government and of corporate managements don't change.
Italy Shaken by Strikes in All Sectors
Italy will be the scene of 30 different labor strikes between now and the planned general strike on Nov. 30. Warning strikes and protests Nov. 15 against the government's austerity policy involved teachers, personnel in education sector institutions, and pupils in numerous cities. In Rome alone, more than 100,000 took to the streets, and similar actions will take place in the urban transport sector of numerous cities, over the coming days.
The weekend of Nov. 20, a nationwide warning strike of airline and airport workers will be staged; judges and prosecutors will follow on Nov. 24. The three big national labor federations CGIL, CSIL, and UIL will stage a national general strike on Nov. 30.
Chirac Cautions Blair on U.S. Intentions
French President Jacques Chirac warned British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in an interview Nov. 16 with the British press in Paris, that the U.S. is "not ready to make concessions to anyone, even the British." Chirac then travelled to London for a state visit with the Queen and Blair.
"I'm not sure the United States, as it is today, in its present mood, is ready to make concessions to anyone, even the British," Chirac said. "They are not in the mood to do one favor in return for another," he added. Chirac warned Blair that it would not be easy for anyone, even the British, to be a "friendly go-between" or "honest broker. Perhaps that will change, but that is the current state of things," he said.
Chirac said he had told Blair to get something from the U.S.: "When the divergence of views between France and Britain was at its height, when the English wanted to follow the Americans and we didn't, ... I said to Tony Blair, your position should at least serve another purpose. You should obtain in exchange for it a new start for the peace process in the Middle East. Because that is vital. Well, Britain gave its support [on Iraq]but I have not been impressed by the payback."
Chirac, however, praised Blair and the Anglo-French relationship.
He then called for a multi-polar world: "We are heading, inevitably, I have said it before, for a multi-polar world, in which there will be an American pole, a Chinese pole, a South American pole, an African I hope, and a European pole." To balance all this, the U.N. is needed, and "the two poles that are founded on the same valuesthat is America and Europeget on together so that they can be an element of dissuasion towards poles which have another culture, other historical values. The trans-Atlantic link is absolutely essential in this multipolar world."
Brits Plan To Withdraw Black Watch Regiment from Iraq
British military leaders want the Black Watch Regiment withdrawn from Central Iraq at least by the beginning of December, The Independent reported Nov. 16. Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Sir Mike Walker, has already told the U.S. military in Iraq that keeping the British forces in central Iraq "would be a political decision and militarily irresponsible," The Independent cited "senior defence sources" as saying.
The plan is to withdraw the Black Watch as soon as the Fallujah operation is over, or when the battle group's 30-day deployment ends on Dec. 3, "whichever is sooner." Britain will not support further Fallujah-style offensives.
Also, Blair promised in the Parliament that the Black Watch would be home by Christmas, which the military said "surprised" them. The Black Watch is deployed just south of Fallujah, in an area which the U.S. had left open. A senior British military source said: "There was a need to fill the vacuum, and this will continue to be the case. Other forces will be needed in the future, but it won't be us."
Chancellor Schroeder: No German Troops to Iraq
In a full-page interview published Nov. 18 in Die Zeit, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that he will miss U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is retiring, but is looking forward to cooperating with Condoleezza Rice, who has been named by President Bush to replace Powell. As far as the German view on Iraq is concerned, it will not change with the new Bush Administration. He added: no German troops to Iraq, nor upgrading of military presence generally, because stability and peace can be brought to Iraq only by elections and a legitimized new Iraqi government that has control over the crucial aspects of the Iraqi economy and state.
Schroeder also called for the Middle East Road Map approach to be put back on the agenda, to create an Israeli state and a Palestinian state, in guaranteed and mutually respected territory. As far as Iran is concerned, Schroeder said that he believes the recent agreement between the EU and Iran on the nuclear problem will work, because the Europeans will give Tehran economic cooperation including the peaceful use of nuclear technology, in return for the Iranian "yes" to that agreement.
Asked whether he thought the U.S. will continue planning a military intervention in Iran, Schroeder answered that he could not imagine that, and he would strongly advise against that. Afghanistan is not safe yet, nor has the Iraqi conflict been solved, therefore it would be totally wrong to even think of a military intervention against IranGermany will not support that in any way.
German Environment Minister 'Goes Nuts' Over Nukes
German Environmental Affairs Minister Trittin is coming under increasing public attack. Trittinwho in recent public debates with spokesmen for the nuclear power industry, lost his self-control so often that even the Greenies are beginning to consider him expendablehas come under more pressure in recent days.
Bildzeitung, the largest mass-tabloid in Germany, for the second day in a row Nov. 18 had Trittin's picture accompanying a big article with banner headlines, asking whether he "has gone nuts."
And in an interview in the Die Zeit weekly, Chancellor Schroeder, when asked about frictions in the ruling "Red-Green" coalition between the Greens and his own Social Democrats, said that he is quite fed up with the way certain Greens (not naming Trittin) are trying to profile themselves in public at the expense of his government, which cannot be tolerated.
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