Thousands of workers from across Europe took to the streets of the Slovenian capital Saturday, calling on EU governments to allow them the pay raise they say they deserve after two years of strong economic growth.
Alarmed by record-high inflation in euro nations, EU officials have urged employers — including governments — to avoid large wage increases that could fuel inflation further.
Local police said 10,000 people joined the protest, which spilled into Ljubljana’s Congress Square as loudspeakers blared AC/DC’s heavy metal anthem Highway to Hell.
PHOTO: AP
Trade unions said around 35,000 of their members traveled to the demonstration from Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania.
Holding signs calling for “decent work, decent wages, decent living” and “wages up, poverty down,” the protest was entirely peaceful.
FAIR SHARE
John Monks, the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said people were simply looking for their fair share after Europe’s recent growth spurt created large profits for companies, big bonuses for corporate bosses and tax windfalls for governments.
“We can’t accept lectures that workers should be modest,” he said.
That was exactly what they got in nearby Brdo, where the unions were hoping to embarrass EU finance ministers — meeting for talks on the economy — into backing away from a call for wage restraint.
`ENORMOUS MISTAKE’
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet told reporters that it would be “an enormous mistake” for other countries to follow Germany, Europe’s largest economy, in allowing trade unions to negotiate large pay increases that outpaced productivity growth.
German public sector workers last week won an 8 percent pay increase over two years, train drivers got an 11 percent increase and steel union IG Metall has sealed a 13-month deal for a 5.2 percent wage hike from last month.
Trichet said such deals were an exception because they came after two years of a pay freeze.
POOR TIMING
Workers’ demands come at a bad time. People may be paying more for groceries and transport as prices for oil and food soar — but EU officials fear pay hikes would help inflation spread from those goods and spiral across the economy.
That would risk slowing the European economy which is already forecast to grow more slowly this year as businesses are faced with higher costs for energy, tighter credit conditions and a possible recession in Europe’s main trading partner, the US.
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