One of the first bills in the new year will aim to rapidly increase the minimum wage to EUR 12.
After all, the wage increase for around ten million employees is a matter close to the heart of the SPD.
No wonder that employers are threatening legal action.
Politicians are devaluing 200 collective agreements, warns the craftsman president.
With the wage dictate, it intervenes in the constitutionally anchored collective bargaining autonomy, although the minimum wage in 2022 will rise from 9.60 to 10.45 euros anyway - as decided in the minimum wage commission with employers and unions.
The traffic light government disrupts the tried and tested mechanism, encouraged by the unions.
They are playing a dangerous game because they are increasingly calling for help from the state when it comes to the core tasks of the collective bargaining partners: regulating working conditions independently and close to the financial reality in the companies in order to protect jobs.
Anyone who delegates this task to the state should not be surprised if employees prefer to save on union fees.