The current economic crisis is getting worse and worse and thus the situation of the working masses in this country is getting increasingly worse. The seriousness of the crisis, which is far from reaching its peak, can be well illustrated by the current figures of the inflation rate. Last month, inflation was 7.6%, only slightly below the previous month's high of 7.9%, the highest rate in almost 50 years. This high inflation rate ensures that the poorest sections of the proletariat in this country now face the real problem of not being able to finance their lives. The majority of the masses are not yet facing the threat to their existence, but they still have to make cutbacks and major adjustments in order to be able to get through the crisis. The demand and the struggle of the working class for a wage increase that will cushion the burden of the crisis is therefore completely justified. Especially at the present moment.

Union leadership, government and capitalist associations stand hand in hand

Of course, this struggle is also reflected in the yellow unions. IG Metall, for example, is now demanding 8% more pay, the highest wage demand the union has made since 2008. And although this 8% is only slightly above the current rate of inflation, which is even relatively high compared to other wage demands, the government, labor buyers and bourgeois economists are going to the barricades. They talk about the eminent danger of the "wage-price spiral" that would be unleashed if wages were raised now. Higher wages mean that companies make less profit and are therefore "forced" to raise prices even further to compensate. Of course, this then ensures that the wage increase is quickly caught up again by inflation, which continues to rise as well, and is thus nullified. But what is the solution to avoid this dilemma? For Scholz, it's quite clear: instead of a wage increase, simply make a tax-free one-time payment, which will then take care of the matter. Accordingly, the gangster chancellor has called for a "concerted action" in which the government, unions, labor buyers and so-called experts should all sit down at one table to find a solution "together" against inflation. All under the direction of the state and in the interests of the bourgeoisie. A more appropriate name, however, would have been "corporativist action," because that's exactly what it is. The unions have been urged to keep wage demands minimal in the coming bargaining rounds and to settle for the one-time payment. The state is trying to "settle" the class contradictions in joint meetings of capital federations, trade union confederation and government. This is nothing more than an attempt to buy off the unions and effectively suspend the workers' right to strike, all under the pretext of wanting only to prevent the wage-price spiral and to shift the burden of the crisis further onto the working class.

That a paltry one-time payment will never be able to cover the enormous increase in the cost of living due to inflation should be clear. Even a single wage increase will not solve the problem of the working class to be pushed again and again to the edge of the subsistence level. It is a vicious circle that flares up anew with every crisis of capitalism. Only through a class-struggle workers' movement with a trade union that actually represents its interests will it be possible to keep the gains won and to conquer more.