The Gap Between The EU And The US Will Continue To Widen, Update -- January 27, 2018

Updates

January 29, 2018: Germans to go on strike beginning tomorrow (Tuesday). Won't accept 6.8% wage increase; want 8%. Also, employers willing to compromise on 28-hour workweek; labor unions won't compromise.

Original Post

Back on January 10, 2018, this was posted:

On the day that Toyota/Mazda announced a new $1.6 billion automobile plant to be built in Alabama, Reuters is reporting that "German industrial workers widen their strikes in wage dispute."

So, guess how much German workers want in wage increases? 1%? 2%? 3%? Nope, double that, 6%.

But not only that, they want shorter hours (I assume the hours will be the same number of minutes as before, but they want fewer hours, not shorter hours -- perhaps a shorter work-week is what the writer meant).

The strike for a shorter work-week comes on top of the 35-hour work week Germans already have.

According to the article, "workers have drawn a line in the sand."

So, where do we stand today? From Bloomberg, so it must be true:  -- oh, but before we get to this, look at this graph once again --

Okay, back to the linked story -- German workers ready to go on strike -- and it could be a devastating one -- coming on the heels of Davos; President Trump's speech; and, lack of political leadership in Germany:

Talks with IG Metall, which represents some 3.9 million workers in Europe’s largest economy, broke off without a deal early Saturday following 16 hours of negotiations preceded by weeks of tense back-and-forth. The union, which has rallied about 960,000 people across Germany for one-hour protests in recent weeks, said it plans day-long walkouts that would be much more disruptive.

• IG Metall plans 24-hour walkouts next week as no deal reached
• BMW braces for production losses as strikes set to escalate