GERMANY: MINERS GATHER FOR THIRD DAY OF PROTEST OVER GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY CUTS TO MINING /CONSTRUCTION WORKERS PROTEST OVER MASS UNEMPLOYMENT IN BUILDING

Record ID: 639763

  • Title: GERMANY: MINERS GATHER FOR THIRD DAY OF PROTEST OVER GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY CUTS TO MINING /CONSTRUCTION WORKERS PROTEST OVER MASS UNEMPLOYMENT IN BUILDING
  • Date: 12th March 1997
  • Summary: BONN, GERMANY (MARCH 12, 1997)(RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SCU THOUSANDS OF MINERS WEARING THEIR HELMETS GATHERED FOR RALLY WITH BANNERS 0.11 2. SCU SPD (SOCIAL DEMOCRATS) PARLIAMENTARY FACTION LEADER RUDOLF SCHARPING ADRESSING RALLY (GERMAN) 0.25 3. LV MINERS APPLAUD 0.30 4. SLV STAGE WITH SPEAKERS MINERS APPLAUD IN FOREGROUND 0.33 5. SCU HEAD OF MINING AND ENERGY INDUSTRIAL TRADE UNION HANS BERGER ADDRESSING RALLY SAYING THAT THE MINERS WOULD NOT GIVE UP AND WOULD CONTINUE THEIR PROTESTS UNTIL A SOLUTION THAT WOULD SAFEGUARD JOBS WOULD BE FOUND (GERMAN) 0.58 6. SLV MINERS APPLAUDING 1.03 7. SLV POLICE LINING ROAD, MINERS WALK PAST 1.09 8. SLV ZOOM OUT MINERS BLOCKING ROAD 1.18 BERLIN, GERMANY (MARCH 12, 1997)(RTV - ACCESS ALL) 9. SLV CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WEARING RED HATS MARCHING TOWARDS POTSDAMER PLATZ CARRYING BANNER 1.27 10. SCU BANNER 1.31 11. HAS PROTESTERS WITH BANNERS 1.36 12. HAS PAN WORKERS GATHERED FOR RALLY 1.47 13. SCU HANS-JOACHIM WILMS, HEAD OF IG BAU CONSTRUCTION WORKERS' UNION FRANKFURT, SAYING "WE WANT FULL SICK PAY ENTITLEMENTS, WE WANT MINIMUM WAGE GUARANTEES IN OUR SECTOR AND WE DEMAND THAT THE EMPLOYERS WHO VIOLATE THIS RULE SHOULD BE SENT TO JAIL' (GERMAN) 2.05 14. SLV/SCU WORKERS CHEERING AND APPLAUDING (2 SHOTS) 2.15 15. SLV PROTESTERS WITH MODEL OF CHANCELLOR HELMUT KOHL'S HEAD ON STICK 2.19 16. GV WORKERS MARCHING THROUGH BERLIN 2.22 17. SCU WORKERS STICKING CABBAGES ON STICKS 2.34 18. SV WORKER SMASHING CABBAGES ON STREET (4 SHOTS) 2.52 Initials P3 S3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 27th March 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BONN AND BERLIN, GERMANY
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVADGB1QW12FO7R4D14UYTV7L310
  • Story Text: - INTRO: Thousands of angry German miners have gathered in Bonn's government quarter for a third day of protest but most looked ready to retreat to let their union leader try again to negotiate planned subsidy cuts with Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

    And in Berlin, several thousand construction workers continued their protest against mass unemployment in the building sector.

    Some 6,500 pit workers from the Saar state near the French border, attended a rally in Bonn on Wednesday (March 12) for the third day running.

    The strikers maintained a blockade of Bonn's main route, causing chaos for morning traffic. They also kept up a siege of the headquarters of the free-market Free Democrats (FDP), Kohl's junior coalition partners who are the main force behind the subsidy cuts.

    The protests started on Monday but the miners reluctantly agreed on Wednesday to heed union leader Hans Berger's appeal to wait in neighbouring Cologne until the talks started on Thursday.

    During the rally, Berger told the miners they would not give up and would continue their protests until a solution to safeguard jobs would be found.

    Kohl, who put off meeting Berger on Tuesday because of the unruly protests, promised to meet him on Thursday but insisted that his proposed cuts in subsidy from nine billion marks (5.3 billion U.S. dollars) to 3.8 billion marks by 2005 were fair.

    He said he wanted the coal industry to survive and experts have said that would be possible with lower levels of subsidy.

    But mining union IG Bergbau says the plans will force 10 pits to close by 2005, make 50,000 miners redundant and cause a further 70,000 related job losses in already depressed areas.

    The opposition Social Democrats (SPD), who rule the two main coal mining states, have strongly backed the miners.

    In an unrelated protest, 5,000 construction workers marched in Berlin to protest against job losses in their stricken sector. A group smashed cabbage heads to highlight their opposition to Kohl, whose name means cabbage in German.

    Hans Joachim Wilms, head of IG Bau Construction Workers Union Frankfurt said at the rally, they wanted full sick pay entEtlements, minimum wage guarantees in the sector and demanded that employers who violate this rule should be sent to jail.

    The workers also demonstrated against the competition from their foreign colleagues, who they claim are paid well below the minimum wages acceptable in the sector.

    Investment in the building sector, which accounts for about 10 per cent of the German economy, dropped 2.7 per cent last year.


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