Google – AFP, 21 November 2013
A man
vacuums a carpet at the IFA trade fair in Berlin on September 1, 2011 (AFP)
|
Berlin —
Germany is set to introduce a national minimum wage, conservative Chancellor
Angela Merkel said on Thursday, relenting on a key demand of her likely future
centre-left governing partners.
"The
Social Democrats will not conclude negotiations without a universal legal
minimum wage," she said about ongoing talks to form a 'grand coalition'
government.
Angela
Merkel (right) and Norway's Prime
Minister Erna Solberg at a press conference
in Berlin on November 20, 2013 (AFP, John
MacDougall)
|
Merkel won
September 22 elections but fell narrowly short of a governing majority, forcing
her CDU and its Bavarian partners the CSU to enter into coalition talks with
the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
In the
talks, SPD chief Sigmar Gabriel, Merkel's likely future vice chancellor, has
insisted on a minimum wage of at least 8.50 euros ($11.40) to help a growing
army of working poor.
The SPD has
promised to put any coalition deal up for a vote to its sceptical party base.
Merkel's
party favours separate pay deals by industrial sector and region, arguing that
a national minimum wage would destroy jobs.
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