Public sector: Wage demands "completely exaggerated"

The Saxon Association of Towns and Municipalities (SSG) has described the trade unions' demands for public sector employees as completely excessive. For the approximately 86,000 employees in Saxony alone, this would result in costs of around 412 million euros, said SSG Managing Director Mischa Woitscheck in a statement.

"This would simply overburden the municipal budgets, because the last wage rounds were already almost impossible to digest," said Woitscheck. In the first half of 2024 alone, Saxony's municipal budgets had accumulated a deficit of around 638 million euros. The Sächsische Zeitung was the first to report this.

The current collective agreement for around 2.5 million employees in the public sector at federal and local level nationwide expires at the end of the year after two years. Collective bargaining will begin at the end of January in Potsdam.

The trade union Verdi and the civil servants' association dbb are demanding eight percent more pay - but at least 350 euros per month. They are also demanding three additional days off. The unions are negotiating for a number of professions - including women and men who work as educators, bus drivers, pool employees, firefighters, nurses and geriatric nurses, administrative staff, sewage treatment plant employees, foresters or doctors.