Germany
Germany: Lessons for workers from the defeat at Manroland
By Ulrich Rippert, February 11, 2012
The IG Metall trade union played a key role from the beginning, preparing and enforcing the “turbo-bankruptcy” of printing press manufacturer Manroland and massive job cuts, as well as preventing any serious opposition developing.
IBM launches new form of day-wage labour
By Dietmar Henning, February 11, 2012
Germany is serving as a pilot project for a radical reorganization of IBM’s work structures around the world.
New evidence points to German police involvement in 1967 murder of student protester
By Franci Vier, February 9, 2012
New evidence suggests that Benno Ohnesorg, a student protester, was deliberately killed by police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras in 1967 during protests against a visit by the Shah of Iran.
German chancellor Angela Merkel visits China
By Johannes Stern, February 9, 2012
German chancellor Angela Merkel visited China on February 2-3 in her fifth trip there during her tenure.
Manroland: “The IG Metall has played a double game”
By Marianne Arens, February 8, 2012
In a deal struck between the IG Metall trade union and the bankruptcy administrator, Manroland workers were left in the dark about their future until the last moment, when each worker was informed of dismissal in a sealed envelope.
Robert Service wins support from the extreme right in Germany
By Wolfgang Weber, February 7, 2012
The extreme right-wing weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit has weighed in on the debate over a German edition of Robert Service's biography of Leon Trotsky, wholeheartedly defending Service against the criticisms of fourteen historians and political scientists.
Revealing new figures on German child poverty
By Ernst Wolff, February 6, 2012
The latest reports reveal three social phenomena: the consolidation of social inequality, increasing social polarization and growing despair at the bottom of the social ladder.
David North speaks in Berlin: “In Defence of Leon Trotsky and Historical Truth”
By our reporter, February 3, 2012
David North placed his exposure of Robert Service’s slanderous biography of Trotsky in a broader historical and political context.
Putting profits before health: Siemens abandons cancer therapy project
By Elisabeth Steinert, February 2, 2012
The Siemens group has decided not to commission its particle therapy cancer treatment facility in Kiel.
Early elections in Saarland, Germany: CDU, SPD to form grand coalition
By Dietmar Henning, January 28, 2012
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) have agreed to form a state coalition after early state elections in March.
Insolvency of Schlecker drugstore chain threatens 47,000 jobs throughout Europe
By Elisabeth Zimmermann, January 27, 2012
The privately owned drugstore empire is seeking a so-called orderly bankruptcy plan, preserving the company but enabling it to terminate contracts.
Manroland: WSWS article unleashes debate in local newspaper
By our reporter, January 25, 2012
A recent article in the WSWS dealing with the sellout by the union of workers at Manroland has unleashed a lively debate in a German newspaper.
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