Germany's Schroeder Plagued By Rising Jobless

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

I suppose the following is bound to happen, when a government 
tries to intercede and shut down an entire industry, based on their 
own agenda. Perhaps this regime's lifespan will be shorter than 
they expected.

Tuesday March 9 11:51 AM ET 

Germany's Schroeder Plagued By Rising Jobless

BONN (Reuters) - Thousands of German nuclear energy workers 
marched through Bonn Tuesday demanding Gerhard Schroeder 
save their jobs as February figures showed the chancellor had still 
not beaten high unemployment.  

Some 35,000 demonstrators drowned out a cabinet minister sent 
to reassure them that the phased withdrawal from nuclear power 
demanded by Schroeder's Green coalition allies would not add to 
the country's 4.5 million unemployed.  

``We will not put jobs in jeopardy with our energy policy,'' 
Economics Minister Werner Mueller said to a deafening chorus of 
jeers and whistles.  

The crowd, estimated by police at 35,000, represented workers 
from all 19 of Germany's nuclear plants.

The protesters saved their bitterest taunts for the Greens, junior 
partners in Schroeder's Social Democrat-led government.

``I voted for the SPD,'' said protester Stefan Kraemer. ''Now I could 
lose my job because of the Greens.''

``We have the safest nuclear industry in the world but they want to 
close it down,'' he added.

The demonstrators said they hoped Schroeder could hear them in 
the chancellery where he was meeting nuclear industry leaders to 
discuss the phase-out.  

Those talks broke up without agreement after utility companies 
objected to a separate government legislation to tax their huge
financial reserves.

``Discussions aimed at reaching a consensus have been ended 
and will not start until the tax issue has been cleared up,'' a 
spokeswoman for Veba AG (NYSE:VEB - news), one of the 
country's largest utilities, said.  

Schroeder is scheduled to meet the energy industry's trade unions 
Thursday.

``It's all about jobs,'' said Herbert Mai, leader of the OeTV public 
sector union that organized the protest.  

``There will be no consensus on energy policy until our jobs are 
safe,'' he said, referring to Schroeder's so-called consensus talks 
with the industry.  

The nuclear issue has emerged as one of the biggest tests of 
Schroeder's political skills after nearly five months in office.

He has to keep his coalition allies sweet while saving jobs among 
traditional SPD voters. Opinion polls show Germans consistently 
place unemployment as their top concern.  

Figures released Tuesday showed unemployment climbed 10,000 
to an unadjusted 4.465 million in February for a rate of 11.6 
percent.  

Seasonally adjusted unemployment fell by 6,000 to 4.076 million, 
the Federal Labour Office said.  

``We still have government administered labor market schemes 
bringing down the official numbers and real joblessness is higher 
than those figures,'' said Hans-Juergen Meltzer, economist at 
Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt.  

``Our GDP forecast for the full year 1999 is 1.6 percent and that is 
not enough to have a positive impact on unemployment. The 
government will have to rely on job creation schemes this year,'' 
Meltzer added.  

Schroeder has launched a two billion mark ($1.1 billion) program to 
create jobs for 100,000 young people. Federal Labour Office head 
Bernhard Jagoda said the scheme was going well, with  
over 30,000 places already filled. 

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html