More than 350 brewery employees on warning strike

SPD leader considers wage gap East-West no longer acceptable

Saxon SPD leader Henning Homann expressed his solidarity with the brewery employees: "The brewers in Saxony work hard every day. Fair pay and fair working conditions are a must." The strike is an expression of "deeply felt injustice": "A wage gap of several thousand euros a year between East and West is no longer acceptable."

It remains to be seen whether the negotiations on Thursday will lead to a result. Neither the employers nor the union wanted to commit to a time period. Recently, the employer side had taken a long time "to propose nothing", according to union circles. The Saxon Employers' Association for Food and Drink is negotiating on behalf of the breweries.

Breweries consider demands to be completely excessive

The breweries had already taken a stand in the run-up to the current round of negotiations. According to Radeberger Brauerei, beer sales in Germany are currently down by around seven percent. "A demanded wage increase of around seven percent is not only beyond what the market allows - it also ultimately jeopardizes jobs instead of securing them," said company spokesman Hendrik Wagner. We need a negotiation result that is fair to both sides without jeopardizing economic foundations.

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