Stalled Wage Negotiations in Thuringia’s Wholesale and Foreign Trade Cause Concern for Employees

On August 24, the third wage round for the approximately 16,000 employees in Thuringia’s wholesale and foreign trade ended with no result. The employer side only made the employees an offer of a 5.1 percent wage increase from September 1, 2023 and 2.9 percent from August 1, 2024. In addition, inflation compensation premiums paid to date should be offset against further payments. Lena Saniye Güngör, labor and trade union policy spokeswoman for DIE LINKE in the Thuringian state parliament, comments as follows:

“Consumer prices in Thuringia have risen by 18.2 percent since 2020 alone. At 6.4 percent, the inflation rate in Thuringia is currently above the national average of 6.2 percent. All of these are now life-threatening realities for the employees, which the employer side seems to completely ignore. It is really high time that this blockade attitude is given up! The left faction remains firmly on the side of the employees and supports them in their further labor disputes.”