German unions vow 'hard resistance' to Merz coalition's pension and health cuts at May Day rallies

Germany's trade unions used May Day rallies on Thursday to declare 'hard resistance' to plans by the Merz coalition to cut pensions, health insurance and other social benefits, with hundreds of demonstrations across the country under the banner 'Erst unsere Jobs, dann eure Profite' ('first our jobs, then your profits').

'If we are attacked, we defend ourselves,' DGB confederation chair Yasmin Fahimi told the central rally in Nuremberg, urging members to remain 'kampfbereit' (combat-ready) over the coming weeks and months. 'Anyone who attacks the protection level of our pensions provokes a major social conflict,' she said, ruling out any weakening of the eight-hour working day or cuts to statutory old-age provision.

Fahimi also rejected savings measures the federal cabinet pushed forward this week in the statutory health-insurance system: 'That is not a reform, that is a restriction of healthcare. The DGB will not go along with it.' She said the confederation was open to reforms in principle but argued the bill should be paid by the wealthy, calling for a wealth tax, a 'fair' inheritance tax and a higher top rate of income tax. 'Those who really need tax relief are the workers in this country,' she said.

Thousands of people joined the Berlin and Hamburg rallies. SPD chair and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, speaking at an event in Bergkamen in the Ruhr, came out explicitly against any move to scrap the 1 May public holiday. The day's headline framing positioned the union movement, in Fahimi's words, as the 'bulwark against relapses into the early days of capitalism.'