Progress falters on German jobs plan

Efforts to tackle Germany's severe unemployment problems are in trouble after the employers published plans for changes to employment law and industrial relations.

German unions, employers and government were attempting to re-start the "Alliance for Jobs" - the forum which in the past drew up joint policies to tackle the country's unemployment crisis.

The German employers' association has indicated that it is willing to guarantee an apprenticeship to all young people, but in return it wants reduced protections against dismissal and the chance for German companies locally to agree lower pay locally than set down in national agreements. (At the moment this is, in most cases, illegal.)

The unions reacted sharply. Ursula Engelen-Kefer, the vice president of the German union confederation DGB, said: "We are not prepared to negotiate about easing protections against dismissal, union rights to bargain unhindered or flexibility clauses in agreements. That doesn't produce any jobs".

The response of the employers' president, Dieter Hundt, was to reject further talks. "Under these conditions the employers are not available for a new alliance," he said.

Despite this talks are still likely to go ahead. The president of the DGB, Michael Sommer, has said that the unions are prepared to talk about anything that "restricts employment in this country" and Schröder is still keen for discussions to take place.