Journalists have to settle for less

A dispute between the union Verdi and German newspaper owners was settled at the end of last month. The dispute included several days of strike action, involving 3,000 of the 14,000 journalists covered by the agreement, but the settlement means real cuts in journalists' pay and conditions.

The agreement provides for a 1.3% increase in salaries from 1 June 2004, and runs for two years until the end of July 2005. This is higher than inflation (which stood at 0.9% in February) but, when the 10 months without an increase from August 2003 to June 2004 are taken into account, it leaves pay lagging behind prices.

The union has also had to accept a cut in annual holidays from 35 to 30 days for staff under 40 (with less drastic cuts for older workers) and a cut in the extra holiday pay workers receive, from 100% to 80% of a month's salary.

The unions accepts that these results are "not fully satisfactory", although it has been possible to ward off some of the employers' demands - such as moving completely to local bargaining.

Frank Werneke, who led the negotiations for Verdi, said that the agreement represented the "balance of forces", and that it was as a result of the strikes that "we got as far as we did". The settlement has been accepted by the members in a postal ballot, with 67% voting in favour.