Europa2

Around 1,500 participants gathered in Leipzig on Saturday afternoon for the demonstration "Freedom of assembly also applies in Leipzig". The gathering initially remained peaceful, but then escalated. Although a fixed demonstration route had been promised in a conversation beforehand, this was then denied.

According to various media reports, the economic situation in Germany has reached a critical phase. As part of the general crisis of imperialism, an economic crisis has been developing in the FRG for some time, which the rulers have been trying to ward off in various ways, mainly by trying to pass on the costs of the crisis to the broad masses of the people, but not going too far. The intention was to maintain relative calm among the population, not to create major unrest, as in France, for example. But it seems that the measures against the crisis are now exacerbating it.

No strike, but negotiations, for now. Starting tomorrow, the next round of negotiations between the Railway and Transport Union (EVG) and Deutsche Bahn on higher wages for the approximately 180,000 railroad workers will take place. A small obulus for only about 2,000 railroad workers by means of a settlement led to the cancellation of the 50-hour warning strike planned for last week by the EVG.

"Titan of the arms industry in Europe and probably in the world" is how Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba calls Düsseldorf-based arms and technology group Rheinmetall. Over the weekend, the German war-monopolist announced an agreement to set up a joint venture with Ukrainian state-owned Ukroboronprom. This is initially to repair those tanks and military vehicles that the NATO states have supplied via the German government's so-called ring swap projects or directly. The construction of tanks is to follow, as well as ammunition and air defense projects. The company is to be operational from mid-July 2023.

From the taz ("Collective loan agreement in the public sector: Largest pay increase in decades. 3,000 euros to compensate for inflation, at least 340 euros more: federal and local government employees will soon receive significantly higher salaries.") to ZDF ("It's the biggest wage increase in decades in the public sector") to ARD ("Most expensive wage agreement ever"; "biggest wage increase in post-war history"), the media of German imperialism hail the wage agreement in the public sector. What actually comes of it?

As reported, truck drivers mainly from Georgia and Uzbekistan have been on strike for several weeks at the Gräfenhausen freeway service area near Darmstadt. The reason is unpaid wages of up to 4000 euros each. The truck drivers are employed by the Polish Mazur group. This company hires the truck drivers from non-EU countries as bogus self-employed persons via so-called garbage contracts ("Umowa smieciowa").

For three weeks, more than 50 truck drivers from Poland and Uzbekistan have been on strike at the Gräfenhausen highway service station near Darmstadt. The reason for the wildcat strike are unpaid wages of up to 4000 euros for more than 50 days. The truck drivers are employed by the Polish Mazur group, a company hires the truck drivers with pseudo self-employed contracts and organizes their trips for large European companies and freight distributors such as Ikea and Siemens.

Quite militant protests took place around the recent AfD party conference in Offenburg. More than 50 police officers were reportedly injured. According to official data, they were kicked, beaten, otherwise attacked, fires were set.