A court ruling and its consequences
It is a familiar refrain within the eternal processing of the contradiction between wage labor and capital: To pay even the value of labor power would be the downfall of the Occident. As is well known, Deutsche Post had negotiated minimum wages of between 8 and 9.80 euros per hour with the Verdi trade union. When this regulation was made generally binding for the postal industry by the then Minister of Labor Scholz through a legal ordinance, the private postal service providers ran up a storm against this “diktat.” They argued that this would undermine the “longed-for competition” in favor of a monopoly. This happily proved that competition among private infrastructure companies is only possible on the basis of starvation wages. Now the Federal Administrative Court has overturned the ordinance. They ruled that it was a procedural error not to involve the postal competitors. This is a feat, since they had founded the competing employers’ association Neue Post- und Zustelldienste (NBZ). Its president, Florian Gerster, who, interestingly enough, is the former head of the labor administration, has made a name for himself as a trendsetter for low wages in Germany.
Private delivery companies such as TNT or PIN (a subsidiary of the Holtzbrinck Group) were already allowed to ignore these regulations. For this, they have now received a first-class acquittal. What is a legal regulation to the “natural laws” of competition? The ruling fits in with the political climate since the start of the black-yellow coalition government. In order to conceal the situation on the labor market under crisis conditions, the devaluation of the labor force, which had already been initiated by all previous governments, is to be accelerated once again. The privatized infrastructure companies are particularly suitable as shock troops. The railroad has shown the way with its subcontractors, whose hourly wages of 3 euros for Eastern European track construction workers were described as “immoral” even by CDU members. Now the door is open for the creeping generalization of such conditions, especially since the black-yellow coalition agreement provides for more difficult procedural rules for new minimum wage applications.
As an aside, it is becoming known that the private delivery services tend to want to compete less in one respect, namely when it comes to investing in additional postal networks. The private sector wants profitable mail delivery to be possible without comprehensive infrastructure. In this respect, Deutsche Post has once again set an “example” by unrestrainedly expanding the delivery areas for its employees. Fewer personnel for larger areas, that is the first commandment of business management. The capitalist ideal of a combination of performance hustle and cheap wages is striving toward its realization in yet another corporate sector. What does it matter if the mail comes only rarely or in patches and there are no longer any post offices, but only subcontracted dubious small businesses? The main thing is that “competition” has been saved, thanks be to God and the Federal Administrative Court.
Originally published in print and online edition of the weekly newspaper Freitag on 02/04/2010
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