Germany in Brief

German chancellor to meet with unions

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is meeting heads of trade unions Friday for the first time since the dispute between the two sides over the chancellor’s reform package "Agenda 2010" escalated in early May. The meeting, initiated by the unions, will mainly deal with the chancellor’s proposals for social reforms which include slashing sick pay and unemployment benefits. However, Jürgen Peters, designated chairman of IG Metall - the country’s largest industrial union –warned ahead of the meeting that the ruling Social Democrats were headed for an electoral disaster if they went ahead with the chancellor’s policies. In May, Germany’s unions launched a series of strikes and demonstrations to protest against the reforms which foresee a comprehensive overhaul of Germany’s health and social system.

Prestigious high-speed train project dropped

Premier of North-Rhine Westphalia Peer Steinbrück announced Friday that the planned magnetic levitation train route "Metrorapid" between the cities of Düsseldorf and Dortmund had been cancelled. The minister cited financial reasons for the surprise shelving of the high-profile project that was estimated to cost €3.2 million. The high-speed commercial train was meant to carry about 35 million passengers yearly over a stretch of 79 km and had been a sore point between the state’s Social-Democrat and Green coalition government. The project’s cancellation is expected to lead to severe job losses. German Transport Minister Manfred Stolpe said Friday the federal government would instead focus on building a 37-km magnetic levitation stretch in Bavaria linking downtown Munich with the airport. The government also agreed to foot €675 million of the €1.6 billion plan.

Teachers in Germany demand reforms

Teachers’ unions in Germany are organizing large-scale demonstrations across the country to demand reforms to the education system on "Education Day". Head of the GEW union Eva-Maria Stange said reform priorities included improving preschool education, expanding the number of full-day schools, providing more individual attention to pupils and establishing federal-wide educational standards regardless of the type of schools. She also warned of drawing the wrong conclusions from the miserable performance of German students on an international test two and a half years ago, and said teachers were being forced to work longer hours to get more results from pupils. "We’ve come to a point, where something fundamental has to change in the education system," Stange said.